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Quiz about Literary Allusion in Songs and Movies

Literary Allusion in Songs and Movies Quiz

You do not have to know any of the songs or movies used in this quiz to answer the questions correctly; you just need to know your literature! Enjoy.

A multiple-choice quiz by skylarb. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
skylarb

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
153,667

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
10 / 15

Plays
2290

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 125 (12/15), Guest 102 (9/15), Guest 90 (7/15).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. The movie "What Dreams May Come" is based on the novel by Richard Matheson. But what author was the originator of this phrase? Hint

Sylvia Plath

T.S. Eliot

William Shakespeare

William Blake

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. The movie "'Till Human Voices Wake Us" takes its title from a poem by whom? Hint

William Shakespeare

Sylvia Plath

William Blake

T.S. Eliot

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. To what Shakespeare play does the Mel Brooks film 'To Be or Not to Be' allude? Hint

Othello

MacBeth

Hamlet

King Lear

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Question 4 of 15

4. In the movie "Sense and Sensibility", Marianne asks Elinor, "Is love a fancy or a feeling?" Whom is she quoting? Hint

Hartley Coleridge

T.S. Eliot

William Shakespeare

Sylvia Plath

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Question 5 of 15

5. The movie "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" takes its title characters from what Shakespearian play? Hint

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

Hamlet

King Lear

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Question 6 of 15

6. In "Clueless", Josh's date attributes the quote "to thine own self be true" to Hamlet. Cher corrects her. What Shakespearian "dude" does she say actually spoke the words? Hint

Laertes

Horatio

Claudio

Polonius

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Question 7 of 15

7. What poet and author of "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" do Simon and Garfunkel mention in their song, "Dangling Conversations"? Hint

Langston Hughes

Emily Dickinson

Robert Frost

T.S. Eliot

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Question 8 of 15

8. 10,000 Maniacs has a song called "Hey, _______" which makes reference to this beat poet and author of "On the Road". Hint

Jack Kerouac

Sylvia Plath

Allen Ginsberg

Woody Guthrie

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Question 9 of 15

9. The Cure, in their song "Treasure", allude to the poem "Remember" by what Victorian poet? Hint

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Christina Rossetti

Emily Bronte

George Eliot

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Question 10 of 15

10. In "Ballad of a Thin Man", to what "Great Gatsby" author does Bob Dylan refer? Hint

Joseph Heller

John Steinbeck

George Orwell

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Question 11 of 15

11. Iron Maiden has a song called "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". From what poet do they borrow the title? Hint

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Lord Byron

William Wordsworth

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Question 12 of 15

12. Police's song "Wrapped Around Your Finger" makes allusion to Homer's "Odyssey". Complete this lyric: "You consider me the young apprentice / Caught between the ___ and Charybdis." Hint

Ulysses

Scylla

Sirens

Rock

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. In the song "Tangled Up in Blue", Bob Dylan refers to "an Italian poet / From the thirteenth century." Which of the following is definitely NOT the source of his allusion? Hint

Petrarch

Guinizelli

Dante

Cavalcanti

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Question 14 of 15

14. In his song "Too Long in Exile", Van Morrison sings that, just like this "Waiting for Godot" author, he has been "too long in exile." Hint

Oscar Wilde

Tom Stoppard

Henrik Ibsen

Samuel Beckett

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Question 15 of 15

15. The movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman" includes a never-aging character who has a secret portrait. From what author's novel is this character drawn? Hint

Oscar Wilde

Ray Bradbury

H.G. Wells

Charlotte Bronte

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 21 2024 : Guest 125: 12/15
Apr 07 2024 : Guest 102: 9/15
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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The movie "What Dreams May Come" is based on the novel by Richard Matheson. But what author was the originator of this phrase?

Answer: William Shakespeare

In "Hamlet", Shakespeare writes: "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil. . . " The 1998 movie stars Robin Williams.

2. The movie "'Till Human Voices Wake Us" takes its title from a poem by whom?

Answer: T.S. Eliot

This drama, released in 2002, stars Guy Pearce and Helena Bonham Carter. The title comes from Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea / By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

3. To what Shakespeare play does the Mel Brooks film 'To Be or Not to Be' allude?

Answer: Hamlet

The words come from Hamlet's famous soliloquy, in which he contemplates suicide: "To be, or not to be: that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them?" Mel Brooks took the title from the original 1942 film of the same title, starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard.

4. In the movie "Sense and Sensibility", Marianne asks Elinor, "Is love a fancy or a feeling?" Whom is she quoting?

Answer: Hartley Coleridge

This comes from Sonnet VII: "Is love a fancy, or a feeling? No. / It is immortal as immaculate Truth."

5. The movie "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" takes its title characters from what Shakespearian play?

Answer: Hamlet

The movie is based on a play by Tom Stoppard. The characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play a minor role in Shakespeare's play: they are friends of Hamlet.

6. In "Clueless", Josh's date attributes the quote "to thine own self be true" to Hamlet. Cher corrects her. What Shakespearian "dude" does she say actually spoke the words?

Answer: Polonius

Cher says she knows it was the "Polonius dude" who said the words and not Hamlet, because she knows Mel Gibson. This is part of Polonius's advice to his son Laertes, which also includes, "Neither a borrower, nor a lender be."

7. What poet and author of "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" do Simon and Garfunkel mention in their song, "Dangling Conversations"?

Answer: Robert Frost

They also mention to Dickinson: "You read your Emily Dickinson, and I my Robert Frost / And we note our place with bookmarkers / That measure what we've lost."

8. 10,000 Maniacs has a song called "Hey, _______" which makes reference to this beat poet and author of "On the Road".

Answer: Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis Kerouac was born of French-Canadian parents in Massachusetts. In addition to "On the Road", he is also famous for his "The Dharma Bums". In the 10,000 Maniacs song, the singer laments, "What a tear stained shock of the world / You've gone away without saying / Goodbye."

9. The Cure, in their song "Treasure", allude to the poem "Remember" by what Victorian poet?

Answer: Christina Rossetti

The Cure sings, "Remember me and smile... / For it's better to forget / Than to remember me /And cry." Rossetti said it with a little more literary refinery: "Yet if you should forget me for a while / And afterwards remember, do not grieve: / For if the darkness and corruption leave / A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, / Better by far you should forget and smile / Than that you should remember and be sad."

10. In "Ballad of a Thin Man", to what "Great Gatsby" author does Bob Dylan refer?

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dylan sings, "You've been through all of / F. Scott Fitzgerald's books / You're very well read / It's well known."

11. Iron Maiden has a song called "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". From what poet do they borrow the title?

Answer: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Rime" is a "supernatural" poem written in ballad stanza which gives us the famous lines: "He prayeth best, who loveth best / All things both great and small; / For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and loveth all."

12. Police's song "Wrapped Around Your Finger" makes allusion to Homer's "Odyssey". Complete this lyric: "You consider me the young apprentice / Caught between the ___ and Charybdis."

Answer: Scylla

This saying appears in the modern English idiom as "stuck between a rock and a hard place." The song also has an allusion to Faust: "Mephistopheles is not your name."

13. In the song "Tangled Up in Blue", Bob Dylan refers to "an Italian poet / From the thirteenth century." Which of the following is definitely NOT the source of his allusion?

Answer: Petrarch

Petrarch lived and wrote in the 14th, not the 13th century. It is possible that Dylan did not have a specific poet in mind, but rather a general school of poets known for their love lyrics.

14. In his song "Too Long in Exile", Van Morrison sings that, just like this "Waiting for Godot" author, he has been "too long in exile."

Answer: Samuel Beckett

To what "exile" does Morrison allude? When in World War II the Germans occupied France, Beckett, who was involved in the French resistance movement, was forced to flee to Roussillon in the unoccupied zone. Morrison also references Oscar Wilde in the song.

15. The movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman" includes a never-aging character who has a secret portrait. From what author's novel is this character drawn?

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Most known for his plays, Wilde also wrote "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Other literary characters in the movie include Captain Nemo, Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Allan Quartermain, and Mina Harker.

Source: Author skylarb

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