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Quiz about Phillip Larkin The Whitsun Weddings

Phillip Larkin 'The Whitsun Weddings' Quiz

A quiz on Larkin's 'Whitsun Weddings' collection. I give you a line from one of the poems and you simply chose which poem in the collection it is taken from.

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

Author
Lady_Stephanie

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
311,772

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
198

Last 3 plays: Guest 42 (8/10), Guest 47 (1/10), krajack99 (9/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. From which poem is this line taken? "To have no son, no wife, no house or land still seemed quite natural." Hint

Dockery and Son

The Importance Of Elsewhere

Here

Reading habits

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Which poem does this line come from? "It stays as it was left, Shaped to the comfort of the last to go As if to win them back." Hint

Toads Revisted

Mr Bleaney

Home Is So Sad

An Arundel Tomb

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. To which poem does this line belong? "Very soon, a great transverse tear Left only a hand and some blue." Hint

Essential Beauty

Love Songs In Age

An Arundel Tomb

Sunny Prestatyn

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. In which poem does Larkin use this description? "synthetic, new, And natureless in ectasies." Hint

Talking in bed

Essential Beauty

The Large Cool Store

Faith healing

5. Which poem in the collection does this line come from? "To some it means the difference they could make By loving others, but across most it sweeps As all they could have done had they been loved." Hint

Faith Healing

Ambulances

Love Songs In Age

Days

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. This line is taken from which poem? "Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives." Hint

Ambulances

The Whitsun Weddings

Self's the Man

Afternoons

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Which poem in Larkin's collection describes the feeling of not fitting in and contains this line? "Lonely in Ireland since it was not home, Strangeness made sense." Hint

Mr Bleany

The Importance of Elsewhere

Ignorance

Here

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Which poem is this line taken from? "Yet more and more time passes silently." Hint

Talking in Bed

Nothing to be Said

Days

The Whitsun Weddings

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. In which poem did "A bright Litter of birdcalls strewed the same Bone-riddled ground."? Hint

First Sight

Here

The Importance of Elsewhere

An Arundel Tomb

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. In which poem do these lines belong? "I lose All but the outline of the still and withering Leaves on half emptied trees." Hint

Here

Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses

Essentail Beauty

Broadcast

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 17 2024 : Guest 42: 8/10
Mar 25 2024 : Guest 47: 1/10
Feb 27 2024 : krajack99: 9/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. From which poem is this line taken? "To have no son, no wife, no house or land still seemed quite natural."

Answer: Dockery and Son

In 'Dockery and Son' the voice of the poem travels back to his university to find that one of his classmates has a son at that university now. The voice then thinks of how young his classmate 'Dockery' must have been when he started his family and reflects on his own life in comparison. Typical to Larkin, we are left with a somber thought that "Life is first boredom, then fear."

2. Which poem does this line come from? "It stays as it was left, Shaped to the comfort of the last to go As if to win them back."

Answer: Home Is So Sad

Larkin appears to observe an abandoned home and shows how it reflects unfulfilled expectations. Engaging the reader with the final stand alone sentence "That vase.".

3. To which poem does this line belong? "Very soon, a great transverse tear Left only a hand and some blue."

Answer: Sunny Prestatyn

Larkin describes a bill board advertising Prestatyn as a holiday destination and how it is vandalised. Larkin's use of colloquial language gives the poem a comic edge.

4. In which poem does Larkin use this description? "synthetic, new, And natureless in ectasies."

Answer: The Large Cool Store

'The Large Cool Store' shows Larkin's distaste for the consumerist society which was arising at the time of his writing, a theme which is evident in many works in this collection.

Answer: Faith Healing

The voice in the poem appears to take a dim view of this type of 'healing' suggesting that all humans really want is to feel loved.

6. This line is taken from which poem? "Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives."

Answer: Afternoons

Similarly to 'Dockery and Son' Larkin appears to present family life or, specifically, having children, in a negative way.

7. Which poem in Larkin's collection describes the feeling of not fitting in and contains this line? "Lonely in Ireland since it was not home, Strangeness made sense."

Answer: The Importance of Elsewhere

Larkin's style is to write as the 'detatched observer' so we cannot be sure that the 'voice' of the poem is Larkin's. Larkin however did spend some time in Ireland.

8. Which poem is this line taken from? "Yet more and more time passes silently."

Answer: Talking in Bed

Larkin comments that over time feelings in relationships fade. "Talking in bed ought to be easiest, an emblem of two people being honest" the word 'ought' suggesting that talking in bed is no longer easy.

9. In which poem did "A bright Litter of birdcalls strewed the same Bone-riddled ground."?

Answer: An Arundel Tomb

Larkin presents us with the romantic notion that "What will survive of us is love" after observing an ancient tomb dipicting the couple within it holding hands.

10. In which poem do these lines belong? "I lose All but the outline of the still and withering Leaves on half emptied trees."

Answer: Broadcast

The voice in the poem is listening to a broadcast of a concert which someone he knows is attending. We are presumably intended to question why he has not accompanied her to the concert.

Source: Author Lady_Stephanie

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