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Quiz about TS Eliot  His Life and Works 18881929
Quiz about TS Eliot  His Life and Works 18881929

T.S. Eliot : His Life and Works 1888-1929 Quiz


It's all about T.S. Eliot. If you consider yourself a poet, a literary buff, or just an Eliot fanatic, test your knowledge here.

A multiple-choice quiz by gman89. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
gman89
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
258,612
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
20
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
12 / 20
Plays
1330
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 106 (19/20), Guest 106 (0/20), Guest 103 (7/20).
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Question 1 of 20
1. What does 'T.S.' stand for, in his name? Hint


Question 2 of 20
2. Where was Eliot born? Hint


Question 3 of 20
3. Which preparatory school did Eliot attend? Hint


Question 4 of 20
4. Which college did Eliot attend? Hint


Question 5 of 20
5. Eliot earned a scholarship for which Oxford college? Hint


Question 6 of 20
6. What were the names of Eliot's parents? Hint


Question 7 of 20
7. The poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was first published in 1915 at the request of which other poet? Hint


Question 8 of 20
8. What line follows "I grow old...I grow old..." in "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"? Hint


Question 9 of 20
9. Who did Eliot marry in the summer of 1915? Hint


Question 10 of 20
10. Eliot was one of the leading figures of the New Critical Movement. Which of the following was not?
Hint


Question 11 of 20
11. Eliot's "The Journey of The Magi", published in 1927, recalls which poem by poet Matthew Arnold? Hint


Question 12 of 20
12. Which great English poet did Eliot teach at Highgate School? Hint


Question 13 of 20
13. To whom did Eliot dedicate the poem "The Wasteland"? Hint


Question 14 of 20
14. Eliot wrote "Ash Wednesday" a few years after his conversion to what religion? Hint


Question 15 of 20
15. Ezra Pound gave Eliot a nickname which he used as part of the title for a book of poetry for children. What was his nickname? Hint


Question 16 of 20
16. Which philosopher is mentioned in the title of Eliot's doctoral thesis which he sent to Harvard? Hint


Question 17 of 20
17. Eliot has sometimes been charged with Antisemitism due to which of his works? Hint


Question 18 of 20
18. In which of Eliot's poems did he actually act as a minor role in the remake as a play? Hint


Question 19 of 20
19. Which journal first published some of Eliot's poems? Hint


Question 20 of 20
20. Eliot's Ariel Poems is a collection of poems written for Faber and Faber's series of Ariel Poems. Which of the following is not in the collection? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Today : Guest 106: 19/20
Dec 09 2024 : Guest 106: 0/20
Dec 08 2024 : Guest 103: 7/20
Dec 06 2024 : Guest 117: 1/20
Dec 03 2024 : Guest 122: 9/20
Nov 25 2024 : Guest 110: 4/20
Nov 20 2024 : Guest 157: 9/20
Nov 18 2024 : Guest 152: 13/20
Nov 13 2024 : Guest 103: 14/20

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What does 'T.S.' stand for, in his name?

Answer: Thomas Stearns

Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 - January 4, 1965) was a poet, dramatist and literary critic.
2. Where was Eliot born?

Answer: St. Louis, Missouri

Lexington, Massachusetts was where Eliot's parents were married. New Bedford, Massachusetts was where his grandfather, William Greenleaf Eliot, was born. Jefferson City is the state capital of Missouri; it has no real correlation to Eliot.
3. Which preparatory school did Eliot attend?

Answer: Smith Academy

Eliot attended Smith Academy from 1898 to 1905. The Smith Academy is a preparatory school for Washington University (not Washington Academy).
4. Which college did Eliot attend?

Answer: Harvard

Eliot attended Harvard University from 1906 to 1909 (during which time he obtained a BA) and earned a Master's Degree the following year. Upon World War I, Eliot moved to England where he spent much time studying, as well as meeting and marrying his wife Vivienne. Also during that time, he'd been working on his dissertation and finally submitted it to Harvard in 1916.

Despite the fact that it had been accepted, Eliot had not received his Ph.D because he wasn't present to defend it.
5. Eliot earned a scholarship for which Oxford college?

Answer: Merton

Eliot attended Merton in 1914, but was unhappy and refused to further his education there.
6. What were the names of Eliot's parents?

Answer: Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Champe Stearnes

Samuel Eliot, Elizabeth Greenleaf, William Greenleaf Eliot, Abigail Adams Cranch, Thomas Lamb Eliot, and Henrietta Robins Mack are all related to T.S. Eliot from his genealogy.
7. The poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was first published in 1915 at the request of which other poet?

Answer: Ezra Pound

The magazine "Poetry : A Magazine of Verse" published the poem in June 1915, at the request of Ezra Pound (who was the foreign editor of the magazine). Pound became a mentor and lifelong friend of Eliot. The other poets were all contributors to the magazine.
8. What line follows "I grow old...I grow old..." in "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"?

Answer: "I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is also referred to as "Prufrock". It was this poem that turned Eliot into what he ultimately became; one of the most influential poets of his time. A few of the well known poets that influenced Eliot includes Homer, Ezra Pound, and Dante Alighieri (better known as Dante, from "Dante's Inferno", "Purgatorio", etc.)
9. Who did Eliot marry in the summer of 1915?

Answer: Vivienne Haigh-Wood

Tom and Vivienne were married on June 26, 1915. He married Esme on January 10, 1957. Joan Aiken was the daughter of his great friend Conrad Aiken. Dora Black was married to Bertrand Russell, who had a brief affair with Vivienne.
10. Eliot was one of the leading figures of the New Critical Movement. Which of the following was not?

Answer: Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was the son of Tom Arnold, the famous Headmaster of Rugby School. Matthew was a Victorian poet, writer, and literary critic.
William Empson was a famous critic, one who considered Eliot as one of the greatest literary critics of the 20th century.
11. Eliot's "The Journey of The Magi", published in 1927, recalls which poem by poet Matthew Arnold?

Answer: Dover Beach

Written in 1927, "The Journey of The Magi" is quite the opposite of what it sounds like - it was miserable and full of hatred. The poem was published in Eliot's "Ariel Poems" in 1930.
12. Which great English poet did Eliot teach at Highgate School?

Answer: John Betjeman

Eliot taught Betjeman during World War I. Hopkins, the great Victorian writer, also attended Highgate as did Barfield, who influenced Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and others. Philip Stanhope Worsley also attended Highgate and was the first translator of "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad" (into English).
13. To whom did Eliot dedicate the poem "The Wasteland"?

Answer: Ezra Pound

At the very beginning is written "For Ezra Pound - il miglior fabbro." That translates into "the better craftsman".

Eliot and Joyce were friends, and "The Wasteland" was considered to be a counterpart of Joyce's "Ulysses", published in the same year.

W.H. Auden (an Anglo-American poet) and William Yeats (an Irish poet and dramatist) had both been influenced by Eliot.
14. Eliot wrote "Ash Wednesday" a few years after his conversion to what religion?

Answer: Anglican

On June 29 he converted to Anglicanism and in November he became a British citizen. Also, he decided to drop his American citizenship (during November). In 1928, Eliot summarized his beliefs when he wrote in the preface to his book, "For Lancelot Andrewes", that "the general point of view may be described as classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglo catholic in religion."
15. Ezra Pound gave Eliot a nickname which he used as part of the title for a book of poetry for children. What was his nickname?

Answer: Old Possum

"Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" is an assortment of Eliot's poems about feline psychology and sociology. A second edition was published in the early 80s that featured illustrations.
16. Which philosopher is mentioned in the title of Eliot's doctoral thesis which he sent to Harvard?

Answer: F. H. Bradley

Although Eliot submitted the thesis to Harvard in 1915, he didn't get the Ph.D because he wasn't present to defend it. "Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F. H. Bradley" was eventually published in 1964.
Thomas Hill Green and Bernard Bosanquet were both British idealist philosophers, and Georg Hegel was an influence upon their writings.
17. Eliot has sometimes been charged with Antisemitism due to which of his works?

Answer: Gerontion

"Gerontion" is a poem by Eliot that was published in 1920. Eliot scholar Grover Smith made a comment of this poem that quotes, "If any notion remained that in the poems of 1919 Eliot was sentimentally contrasting a resplendent past with a dismal present, "Gerontion" should have helped to dispel it." Despite this, the poem is still regarded as antisemitic and harsh Eliot critics have never considered the poem as anything like what has Smith commented.
18. In which of Eliot's poems did he actually act as a minor role in the remake as a play?

Answer: Murder in the Cathedral

Eliot had a brief voice segment as a tempter. The movie itself cannot be acquired, but there is a copy in the British Film Institute, yet getting ahold of it isn't the easiest task in the world.
19. Which journal first published some of Eliot's poems?

Answer: Harvard Advocate

Several poems and 'songs' were printed in "The Advocate" between 1906 and 1913, including "Circe's Palace", "Before Morning", "Humouresque", and "Spleen".
20. Eliot's Ariel Poems is a collection of poems written for Faber and Faber's series of Ariel Poems. Which of the following is not in the collection?

Answer: Coriolan

Published in 1929 in Faber and Faber's first season, a complete list of the Ariel Poems is "Journey of the Magi", "A Song for Simeon, "Animula", "Marina", "Triumphal March", and "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees".



This quiz has been crafted by Editor mnbates and avid trivia fan gman89!
Source: Author gman89

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