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Often Anthologized Oldies Trivia Quiz

Remember the "Introduction to Literature" anthology from your high school or college days? While new poems are added with each new edition, some appear over and over. These perennials may sound familiar.

A multiple-choice quiz by nannywoo. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
nannywoo

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
343,427

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
795

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 67 (5/10), Guest 104 (3/10), Guest 154 (9/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. What often-anthologized poem by James Wright has an unusual title and ends with the ambiguous line "I have wasted my life"?

Hint

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"My Papa's Waltz"

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"

"Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota"

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. The passionate poem "Wild Nights--Wild Nights" was written by an often-anthologized writer who lived a quiet, reclusive life in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the 19th Century. Who was this poet who often used dashes as punctuation? Hint

Emily Dickinson

Henry David Thoreau

Sylvia Plath

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Question 3 of 10

3. Sylvia Plath's speaker in the poem "Daddy" lashes out in rage at her father, who died during her childhood, comparing him to a Nazi and calling him a bastard. What profession and avocation did Plath's real father have? Hint

Military officer / Skeet shooter

Medical doctor / Art collector

Lutheran pastor / Gardener

Professor of Biology and German / Beekeeper

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Question 4 of 10

4. In the title of her play "A Raisin in the Sun", Lorraine Hansberry makes an allusion to a Langston Hughes poem. According to the poem, what does the "raisin in the sun" symbolize?
Hint

A sweet future

A dream deferred

A raisin' to new life

Hearing something through the grapevine

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Question 5 of 10

5. In Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare begins with the sentence "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments." Often used at weddings, to what do these lines appropriately refer? Hint

The wedding ceremony in "The Book of Common Prayer"

A scene in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"

The marriage of Venus and Adonis

I Corinthians 13: The "Love Chapter"

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Question 6 of 10

6. Readers of a short, rhythmic poem by Theodore Roethke often disagree about whether a young child's bedtime encounter with a drunken parent should be seen as playful fun or child abuse. What poem invites both these interpretations? Hint

"My Papa's Waltz"

"Daddy"

"The Chimney Sweeper"

"Wild Nights--Wild Nights"

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Question 7 of 10

7. In a poem by Matthew Arnold, the speaker, getting ready to board a ferry to Calais, waxes philosophical about the "Sea of Faith" and urges his companion, "Ah, love, let us be true / To one another!" Where, according to the title of the poem, are the lovers standing? Hint

Myrtle Beach

Dover Beach

The French Riviera

The Sands of Iwo Jima

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Question 8 of 10

8. In the opening lines of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" the speaker invites his prospective lover to go with him at the time "the evening is spread out against the sky" like what? Hint

A patient etherized upon a table

A beautiful woman bejeweled for love

The wine-dark sea of Greece

The vast edges drear and naked shingles of the world

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Question 9 of 10

9. What is "fearful" about the animal in William Blake's "The Tyger"?
Hint

Its symmetry

Its teeth

Its breath

Its ever fixed mark

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Question 10 of 10

10. In Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress", what does the speaker always hear at his back?
Hint

The rattle of bones and a chuckle spread from ear to ear

Wild horses galloping from the rear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near

A patient etherized on a table, with a tear

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Most Recent Scores

Dec 17 2024 : Guest 67: 5/10
Dec 16 2024 : Guest 104: 3/10
Dec 10 2024 : Guest 154: 9/10

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What often-anthologized poem by James Wright has an unusual title and ends with the ambiguous line "I have wasted my life"?

Answer: "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota"

James Wright's poem is unusual for its long title, ambiguous ending, and ironic images, including the unforgettable "droppings of last year's horses." All frequently appearing in literature anthologies, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was written by T.S. Eliot, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, and "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke.

Answer: Emily Dickinson

Only a few of Emily Dickinson's almost 2,000 poems were published during her lifetime. The passion of this poem contrasts with her reputation as a recluse.

Answer: Professor of Biology and German / Beekeeper

Bees and beekeeping are important images in a number of Sylvia Plath's poems, many of them written just before her suicide in 1963. She included fathers in many poems, as well. Plath was a "confessional poet" who wrote about her own psychological struggles, but readers must be careful not to directly equate the poet with the speaker of the poem.

4. In the title of her play "A Raisin in the Sun", Lorraine Hansberry makes an allusion to a Langston Hughes poem. According to the poem, what does the "raisin in the sun" symbolize?

Answer: A dream deferred

In the poem usually titled "Harlem", Langston Hughes uses a series of similes--rotten meat, a heavy load, etc.--to question what might happen when a dream is deferred, ending with the ominous question, "Or does it explode?"

5. In Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare begins with the sentence "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments." Often used at weddings, to what do these lines appropriately refer?

Answer: The wedding ceremony in "The Book of Common Prayer"

The wedding ceremony warns the bride and groom: ". . . as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it."

Answer: "My Papa's Waltz"

Student readers argue about the issue of child abuse vs. playful fun in "My Papa's Waltz." It may be that Theodore Roethke deliberately chose ambiguity for this poem, which most critics consider autobiographical.

Answer: Dover Beach

Writing in the 1860s, Arnold evokes pessimistic images of "the vast edges drear / And naked shingles of the world" and "a darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, / Where ignorant armies clash by night." Some love poem, huh?

Answer: A patient etherized upon a table

Eliot's first line echoes "carpe diem" ("seize the day") poetry, but he follows it with jarring images. The "vast edges drear" answer is from Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach"--another perennial.

9. What is "fearful" about the animal in William Blake's "The Tyger"?

Answer: Its symmetry

The word "Could" in the final line of the first stanza is replaced with "Dare" in the final stanza: "What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry." However, in both stanzas the tiger's symmetry is fearful.

10. In Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress", what does the speaker always hear at his back?

Answer: Time's winged chariot hurrying near

T.S. Eliot adapted Marvell's image several times. "The rattle of bones and a chuckle spread from ear to ear" from Eliot's "The Waste Land" is one example. The line "a patient etherized upon a table" comes from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Eliot's ironic take on the "carpe diem" ("seize the day")genre that includes Marvell's poem. I added "with a tear" and the "wild horses" answer.

Source: Author nannywoo

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