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T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" Trivia Quiz

This quiz will test your knowledge of "The Waste Land". Some questions are quite hard, and require having read "The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcripts of the Original Drafts". Enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by the_waste_land. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
the_waste_land

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
92,322

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
2837

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 154 (1/10), Guest 197 (1/10), Guest 37 (0/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. What was Eliot's first working title for "The Waste Land"? Hint

Unreal City

Voices in the Desert

The Land of the Dead

He do the Police in Different Voices

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Question 2 of 10

2. Who helped Eliot edit the poem, and, in the process, suggested the deletion of large portions of the poem?

Answer: (First and last name or just last)

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Question 3 of 10

3. Where was the original (first intended) epigraph that Eliot had chosen for the poem from? Hint

Baudelaire's "Fleurs du Mal"

Pound's "Cantos"

Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

Milton's "Paradise Lost"

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Question 4 of 10

4. The line, "The ivory men make company between us", which was deleted from the final version of the poem from the second section "A Game of Chess", was taken out at whose suggestion? Hint

Ezra Pound's

John Quinn's

Valerie Eliot's

Vivien Eliot's

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Question 5 of 10

5. There are many quotations in different languages throughout the poem. Which of these languages is NOT present in the poem? Hint

German

Greek

Spanish

Italian

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which of these cities is NOT mentioned in the poem? Hint

Munich

Vienna

Alexandria

Carthage

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Question 7 of 10

7. Before it was deleted, the line "Get me a woman, I said; you're too drunk, she said" was part of which section of the poem? Hint

Burial of the Dead

The Fire Sermon

A Game of Chess

What the Thunder Said

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Question 8 of 10

8. Eliot stated that his references to certain vegetation ceremonies were influences that came from which book? Hint

The Golden Bough

The Mabinogeon

From Ritual to Romance

The Tain

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Question 9 of 10

9. True or false: Eliot stated that "The Waste Land" was "an important bit of social criticism."

True

False

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Question 10 of 10

10. Which of these works did Eliot NOT make a reference to in "The Waste Land"? Hint

Spenser's "Prothalamion"

Kyd's "Spanish Tragedy"

Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure"

Goldsmith's "The Vicar of Wakefield"

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was Eliot's first working title for "The Waste Land"?

Answer: He do the Police in Different Voices

The working title was "He Do the Police in Different Voices", which is a quote from Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend". Betty Higden says of Sloppy, "I do love a newspaper. You mightn't think it, but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the Police in different voices." The title is supposed to reflect the many voices within the poem.

2. Who helped Eliot edit the poem, and, in the process, suggested the deletion of large portions of the poem?

Answer: Ezra Pound

Pound, a poet renowned for helping other poets to establish themselves, edited and made suggestions to Eliot for revising the poem. Whole sections were cut at his suggestion. Hence, the dedication of the poem is "For Ezra Pound, il miglior fabbro".

3. Where was the original (first intended) epigraph that Eliot had chosen for the poem from?

Answer: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

The first epigraph Eliot designated to the poem came from Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". However, Pound did not believe Conrad was worthy of the citation, so Eliot changed it.

4. The line, "The ivory men make company between us", which was deleted from the final version of the poem from the second section "A Game of Chess", was taken out at whose suggestion?

Answer: Vivien Eliot's

The line was initially in "A Game of Chess", between the lines, "And we shall play a game of chess/Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door". Vivien, his then wife, suggested the removal of the line--one of the few suggestion she made. She felt the line hit too close to home.

5. There are many quotations in different languages throughout the poem. Which of these languages is NOT present in the poem?

Answer: Spanish

There are a total of seven languages in the poem: Latin (epigraph), Greek (quotations within the epigraph), Italian (two--dedication and near the end), German (two), French (near the end), Sanskrit (at the very end) and, of course, English.

6. Which of these cities is NOT mentioned in the poem?

Answer: Munich

Though there are quite a few German references--including Marie--Munich is never mentioned. The Stanbergesee is.

7. Before it was deleted, the line "Get me a woman, I said; you're too drunk, she said" was part of which section of the poem?

Answer: Burial of the Dead

The line was originally part of a large sequence which Eliot took out from the first section. The sequence precluded what we now have as the beginning of the poem, and it led into the opening lines "April is the cruellest month..."

8. Eliot stated that his references to certain vegetation ceremonies were influences that came from which book?

Answer: The Golden Bough

Frazer's "The Golden Bough" had a deep effect on Eliot. Although he was deeply influenced by Weston's "From Ritual to Romance" as well, the book had more to do with the Grail legend--and the Fisherking in Eliot's poem. "The Mabinogeon" consists of stories from Welsh mythology. "The Tain" is an epic story from the Irish.

9. True or false: Eliot stated that "The Waste Land" was "an important bit of social criticism."

Answer: False

Eliot's comment was that critics did him the honor of considering his work "an important bit of social criticism." However, he stated that to him it was "a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life; it is just a piece of rhythmical grumbling." We are pretty sure he was just being funny and modest.

10. Which of these works did Eliot NOT make a reference to in "The Waste Land"?

Answer: Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure"

All the other works were referenced in the poem. A quote from "Measure for Measure" appears as the epigraph to Eliot's "Gerontion".

Source: Author the_waste_land

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