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Quiz about Poetryhere there everywhere
Quiz about Poetryhere there everywhere

Poetry...here, there, everywhere Quiz


See if you can answer the questions about these random snatches of poetry.

A multiple-choice quiz by Craterus. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Craterus
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
393,624
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
399
Last 3 plays: Guest 165 (6/10), Buddy1 (10/10), matthewpokemon (9/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. W.B Yeats wrote "A shudder in the loins engenders there the broken wall, the burning roof and tower and Agamemnon dead." Name the poem. Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Who wrote these lines?

"That time of year thou mayst in me behold
when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
upon the boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Which British historian and poet wrote this?

"Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods"
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Name the Anglo-Indian poet/writer who wrote:

"As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the gods of the market place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the gods of the copybook headings, I notice, outlast them all."
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Steven Vincent Benet explored the American Civil War in his epic "John Brown's Body". Who was he describing when he wrote this?

"We can fail and fail,
But, deep against the failure, something wars,
Something goes forward, something lights a match,
Something gets up from Sangamon county ground
Armed with a bitten and blunted axe
And after twenty thousand wasted strokes
Brings the tall hemlock crashing to the ground."
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This Victorian British poet described this wandering epic figure as follows:
"It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

Who's the poet and character?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. A.E.Houseman penned these first lines:

"That time you won the town the race
We chaired you through the market place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder high."

What's the theme of this poem?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. This American poet, strongly identified with New England, limned natural beauty in these first lines:

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow."

Who was it?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "Sweet Auburn, the loveliest village on the plain" is from which poem? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. This English Romantic, said to be "mad, bad and dangerous to know," wrote:

"When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours."

Who is it?
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. W.B Yeats wrote "A shudder in the loins engenders there the broken wall, the burning roof and tower and Agamemnon dead." Name the poem.

Answer: Leda and the Swan

"Leda and the Swan" uses the mythological theme of the Rape of Leda by Zeus, disguised as a swan. As a result, Leda gave birth to Helen of Sparta and thus set off the chain of events that would lead to the Trojan War, the destruction of Troy and the murder of the returning Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra.
2. Who wrote these lines? "That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang upon the boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."

Answer: William Shakespeare

It is from Sonnett 73 and is a metaphor for the end of life and, as the sonnet moves forward, approaching death, as described by one dear friend to another.
3. Which British historian and poet wrote this? "Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the gate: "To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods"

Answer: Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

"Horatius at the Bridge" describes the attack by the army of Etruscan Lars Parsena of Clusium on early republican Rome, and brave Horatius Cocles' efforts to save his city. The attack would have been around the end of the sixth or early fifth century BC. Many of the poem's stanzas end with the refrain "in the brave days of old," setting up a contrast with the virtues of the early republic compared to the late. It is hard to believe that Tennyson was not somehow warning Victorian Britain what it took to govern an empire.

Bonus: As a school boy, Winston Churchill won a prize for reciting this nearly 600 line poem from memory.
4. Name the Anglo-Indian poet/writer who wrote: "As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the gods of the market place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the gods of the copybook headings, I notice, outlast them all."

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

This is from "The Gods of the Copybook Headings". "Copybook headings" were truths that were thought to be eternal, usually printed on the front of 19th century British school boy exam books. Something along the lines of "a stitch in time saves nine" is an example. "Gods of the marketplace" were passing fads and the whims of men, that which might seem like a good idea at first, but cannot stand the test of time.
5. Steven Vincent Benet explored the American Civil War in his epic "John Brown's Body". Who was he describing when he wrote this? "We can fail and fail, But, deep against the failure, something wars, Something goes forward, something lights a match, Something gets up from Sangamon county ground Armed with a bitten and blunted axe And after twenty thousand wasted strokes Brings the tall hemlock crashing to the ground."

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body" explored some of the major figures from the American Civil War as well as several fictional characters from both the North and South. Abraham Lincoln, with his humble roots and many early life failures, was one of them.
6. This Victorian British poet described this wandering epic figure as follows: "It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. Who's the poet and character?

Answer: Alfred Tennyson/Ulysses

Written in 1833, after the death of a very good friend, Tennyson describes a bored but aging Ulysses, who yearns to set sail from Ithaca for one last series of adventures in the twilight of his days. It is a reminder that no matter how badly a person desires something, once attained it grows old--even if you are a Homeric hero. Perhaps the journey is the goal.
7. A.E.Houseman penned these first lines: "That time you won the town the race We chaired you through the market place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder high." What's the theme of this poem?

Answer: Dying too young

A.E. Houseman, in addition to being a very fine poet, was an exceptional classicist. His poem here, "An Athlete Dying Young", which was read by Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) over the grave of Denis FitzHatton (Robert Redford) in the movie "Out of Africa", explores the theme of the death of a young man just getting started in life.
8. This American poet, strongly identified with New England, limned natural beauty in these first lines: "Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow." Who was it?

Answer: Robert Frost

This poem, entitled "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," which describes a brief but peaceful sit in the woods, ends with the speaker telling the reader he must continue his journey because he has "miles to go before [he] sleep[s]." In other words, we do not always have time to stop and smell the roses. Life beckons.
9. "Sweet Auburn, the loveliest village on the plain" is from which poem?

Answer: Oliver Goldsmith's "The Deserted Village"

The Irishman Goldsmith lamented modernization and the passing of rural village life, taking the reader through the lives of some of the people who lived in this "loveliest village" and what they meant to others.
10. This English Romantic, said to be "mad, bad and dangerous to know," wrote: "When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home, Let him combat for that of his neighbours; Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome, And get knocked on the head for his labours." Who is it?

Answer: George Byron

Byron finished his little ditty as follows:

"To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle for freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.

He died in 1821 fighting for Greek independence against the Ottoman Turks.
Source: Author Craterus

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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