Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. One of his many lovers described this poet as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' (and in those days the phrase wasn't a cliché). He spent much of his early childhood reading the Old Testament while disdaining the New. He had a strong personality that outraged and dumbfounded many of his contemporaries. Even by today's standards the stories of his gross excesses such as his compulsive love affairs with women and boys; his zest for debauchery and the alleged scandalous liaison with his half sister seem almost incredible. Despite this, he left a legacy of very high quality poetry. This was an example of his verse:
"Though the day of my destiny's over,
And the star of my fate hath declined,
Thy soft heart refused to discover
The faults that so many could find"
Who was this remarkable poet?
2. Queen Victoria was an ardent admirer of this poet's work. Early sound recordings by Edison exist of him declaiming his own poetry. He was very popular with the public of his day, if not with all of his literary critics. Among his lines of poetry were:
"Elaine the fair, Elaine the loveable,
Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat,
High in her chamber up a tower to the east
Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot;"
Can you name him?
3. This poet never reached the levels of fame achieved by his contemporary Romantic poets but his radical, individual interpretation of Christianity inspired many people during the cultural revolutionary movements of the 1960s.
He was an advocate of free love but remained happily married for all of his adult life. His poetry was described as a caustic social and political protest. He was a true individualist. Among his lines of poetry were:
"When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"
Can you name him?
4. This poet had a life in which he was at times revered and at others reviled. In his youth he was involved in popular radical political circles, but some researchers speculate now that, when in Germany, he was an agent for the British Foreign Office (in other words, a spy!). His poetry was full of introspection, guilt and an appreciation of the place of nature 'in all things'. In his later life he was able to turn his back on the relative poverty of his upbringing and he found himself comfortably off with patronage from the same Crown whose existence he had earlier challenged. Among his lines of poetry were:
"Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare"
Can you identify this poet?
5. This poet was the son of a livery-stable manager. He was the eldest of four children, who remained deeply devoted to each other even after their widowed mother remarried. He was apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary. Among his lines of poetry were:
"My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:"
Can you identify him?
6. This poet was the son of an official of the Bank of England. His mother was related to the poet Robert Browning. He was educated in London at St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School, which he left aged sixteen. He was very much a member of the 'Establishment' and he became a Companion of Honour and later was awarded the Order of Merit. He is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. Among his lines of poetry were:
"'Is anybody there?' said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head:"
Can you name him please?
7. This poet was born to a well paid clerk in the Bank of England. His father built up a library of six thousand volumes. The poet became a very well-read man. He was an extremely bright child and a voracious reader. He learned Latin, Greek, French and Italian by the time he was fourteen. His somewhat idiosyncratic poems provided his readers with challenges which he had not necessarily foreseen as many of his allusions were obscure to those without his wide ranging education. Among his lines of poetry were:
"Oh Galuppi, Baldassaro, this is very sad to find!
I can hardly misconceive you; it would prove me deaf and blind;
But although I take your meaning, 'tis with such a heavy mind!"
Can you identify the poet?
8. This poet was expelled from his college for publishing his a work entitled "The Necessity of Atheism". His father withdrew his inheritance after he eloped with the sixteen-year old Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a London tavern owner. The pair spent the following two years travelling in England and Ireland, distributing pamphlets and speaking against political injustice. Among his lines of verse were:
"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Can you name him?
9. This poet had a difficult childhood when he and his siblings were orphaned and brought up by an aunt and uncle who knew nothing of rearing children and lacked the the money to continue the expensive schooling this poet had previously enjoyed. Further, his aunt hated education and books and had his grandfather's library removed from the home. At the age of thirteen, he was be sent away for training for a life at sea. Among his lines of verse were:
"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking"
Can you name this poet, please?
10. In his biography this poet wrote that he owed his successful career as a successful poet to the unfortunate death of the editor of the "London Magazine," who was killed in a duel in 1821. Among his lines of verse were:
"I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day,
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away!"
Can you remember who this poet was?
Source: Author
bracklaman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bloomsby before going online.
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