I Can't Be Able To Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Arthur Dent, with the help of his friend Ford Prefect (actually not an Earthling, but rather "from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse") managed to escape the destruction of the Earth by hitching a ride on Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz's ship - part of the Vogon construction fleet that had just demolished the planet ostensibly to make a new hyperspace bypass.

But their presence on the Vogon ship did not go undetected, and Dent and Prefect were soon captured and forced, strapped into "Poetry Appreciation chairs", to face the 3rd-worst poetry in the universe - Vogon poetry. Not only was this a delectable sort of torture for Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz to be able to inflict on his prisoners, he had many tools to 'accentuate' the experience, including "imagery intensifiers, rhythmic modulators, alliterative residulators and simile dumpers - all designed to heighten the experience of the poem and make sure that not a single nuance of the poet's thought was lost."

Dent and Prefect suffered agonizingly through the recitation, but Arthur was able to pull himself together enough to elicit a response to their captor's ultimatum. His response (with a little help from Ford to fill in the blanks) was a desperate attempt to save their lives, throwing out terms like "metaphysical imagery" and "interesting rhythmic devices" and trying to appeal to the "Vogonity of the poet's compassionate soul."

But it was all for naught, and Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz had them thrown out the airlock.

(But don't worry... they survived)