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Tennyson's Alphabetic Women Trivia Quiz

The A to Z of women featured in Tennyson's poems. All but one name appear in the titles of his poems.

A multiple-choice quiz by sterretjie101. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
sterretjie101

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
311,358

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
10 / 15

Plays
396

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. Starting at the top of the alphabet, her name means noble in German. She is described as "faintly smiling" and "beyond expression fair." She has red lips and blue eyes. Who is she? Hint

Arabelle

Adeline

Agatha

Averil

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Question 2 of 15

2. This historical figure as described as standing on her chariot among her daughters and glancing "lioness-like" at the battle around her. Who is she? Hint

Boadicea

Bonita

Bernadette

Barbara

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Question 3 of 15

3. Starting with the letter C, this name is a variation of Clair. This woman is described as "the daughter of a thousand earls," haughty and cold. Hint

Clarinda

Clara

Clarissa

Claudia

4. Also the name of William Wordsworth's daughter, this lady lived with farmer Allan and his son. Allan wished the two young people to marry but William refused the match and left the farm to marry Mary Morrison. Who had her heart broken? Hint

Dahlia

Daphne

Dora

Diana

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Question 5 of 15

5. This name is an old version of Helen. She is described as having been born "on a summer morn, a mile beneath the cedar-wood," far from England. Who is this foreign maid? Hint

Eunice

Eleanore

Evadne

Esmeralda

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Question 6 of 15

6. The lady speaks of her love: "Once he drew with one long kiss my whole soul thro' my lips, as sunlight drinketh dew." She waits for his return and when someone speaks his name "a thousand little shafts of flame" shoot through her body. Hint

Francesca

Fatima

Felicia

Fanny

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Question 7 of 15

7. Another historical English figure, this lady lives at Coventry. The speaker in the poem reworks the city's legend in his own words. What is the name of the woman? Hint

Gertrude

Grace

Godiva

Griselda

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Question 8 of 15

8. This poem sings about a stone building that belongs to a lady. The building is "dominant over sea and land." Who is the owner, sharing a name with the mother of Emperor Constantine? Hint

Helen

Harriet

Hyacinth

Hortensia

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Question 9 of 15

9. Her eyes are "fed with the clear-pointed flame of chastity" and embodies "perfect wifehood and pure lowlihead." Who is this chaste model, sharing a name with the patroness of Christopher Columbus? Hint

Iris

Isabel

Ivy

Imogen

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Question 10 of 15

10. This name is popular in Australia. This lady is angry, with black eyes and hair. The speaker says of her: "My woman-soldier... as pure and true as blades of steel." Who is this? Hint

Kate

Kerry

Kyleigh

Kirsten

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Question 11 of 15

11. The name is a pet form of Elizabeth but the woman in question is an enigma. While she is smiling with dimples in her cheeks, the speaker also calls her cruel. She is hard to pin down, perhaps an innocent flirt. What is her name? Hint

Lilian

Laura

Lucinda

Lilith

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Question 12 of 15

12. Tennyson wrote poems about a variety of women whose names started with the letter M. Who is NOT one of them? Hint

Madeline

Mariana

Mirabel

Margaret

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Question 13 of 15

13. With the name meaning 'to rise' in Latin, this lady has her own ballad. The lady stands on the castle parapet, watching her lover ride into battle. A stray arrow hits her, killing her instantly. Who is the unfortunate woman? Hint

Oriana

Ophelia

Ottila

Odette

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Question 14 of 15

14. The poem "Idylls of the King" deals with Arthur and Camelot. Five couples are named in the section "The Round Table". Can you name the woman, companion to Merlin, whose name starts with a V? Hint

Virginia

Vivien

Victoria

Veronica

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Question 15 of 15

15. Finally, two ladies lie dreaming in a shell. One of them is called Minnie. The name of the other is from Welsh. Who is she? Hint

Wendy

Wanda

Winnie

Wilhelmina

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Starting at the top of the alphabet, her name means noble in German. She is described as "faintly smiling" and "beyond expression fair." She has red lips and blue eyes. Who is she?

Answer: Adeline

The poem starts: "Mystery of mysteries, faintly smiling Adeline." It ends with the lines: "Hast thou look'd upon the breath of the lilies at sunrise? Wherefore that faint smile of thine, shadowy, dreaming Adeline?"

Other A women include princess Alice and Danish princess Alexandra, later queen of England.

2. This historical figure as described as standing on her chariot among her daughters and glancing "lioness-like" at the battle around her. Who is she?

Answer: Boadicea

Boadicea was the Celtic tribal queen who stood up against the invading Romans. Tennyson writes about the prophetesses who promise the queen: "Tho' the Roman eagle shadow thee, tho' the gathering enemy narrow thee, thou shall wax and he shall dwindle, thou shalt be the mighty one yet!"

Another historical figure named in the title of a poem was princess Beatrice.

3. Starting with the letter C, this name is a variation of Clair. This woman is described as "the daughter of a thousand earls," haughty and cold.

Answer: Clara

Lady Clara Vere de Vere broke a young man's heart "for pastime". The speaker in the poem is another yeoman who refuses to fall for her charms and promises: "The lion on your old stone gates is not more cold to you than I."

Other women with this initial letter are Claribel and Clare.

Answer: Dora

Dora loved William. When he regretted his decision to leave home and the quarrel he had with this father, Allan refused to forgive him. When William died of a fever, Dora went to aid widow. She presented Allan's grandson to him. The family rift healed but the poem ends: "But Dora lived unmarried till her death."

5. This name is an old version of Helen. She is described as having been born "on a summer morn, a mile beneath the cedar-wood," far from England. Who is this foreign maid?

Answer: Eleanore

The speaker sings Eleanore's praises: "I would I were so tranced, so rapt in ecstasies, to stand apart, and to adore, gazing on thee for evermore, serene, imperial Eleanore!"

Answer: Fatima

Fatima's love does not arrive and she continues to wait and hope. At the end of the poem she declares: "My whole soul waiting silently, all naked in a sultry sky... I will possess him or will die."

7. Another historical English figure, this lady lives at Coventry. The speaker in the poem reworks the city's legend in his own words. What is the name of the woman?

Answer: Godiva

He describes Godiva as "wife to that grim Earl." Godiva asked a herald to inform the townspeople not to leave their homes from the time of her naked ride through the streets until noon. She rode upon "her palfry traps in purple blazon'd with armorial gold." Despite Peeping Tom's indiscretion, she reached home at noon and "built herself an everlasting name."

8. This poem sings about a stone building that belongs to a lady. The building is "dominant over sea and land." Who is the owner, sharing a name with the mother of Emperor Constantine?

Answer: Helen

Helen's tower is of "mortal stone and lime." Tennyson wrote the poem at the request of his friend Lord Dufferin.

Answer: Isabel

Isabel is described as having Madonna-like locks and sweet lips. It is said that "the laws of marriage [are] character'd in gold upon the blanced tablets of her heart."

10. This name is popular in Australia. This lady is angry, with black eyes and hair. The speaker says of her: "My woman-soldier... as pure and true as blades of steel." Who is this?

Answer: Kate

Kate has a quick temper and sees men as "gilded flies." The writer wishes he were a knight in order to win her heart but alas, "But none are bold enough for Kate."

Answer: Lilian

Lilian is called a fairy with "silver-treble laughter." However, her would-be lover loses patience at the end of the poem and threatens: "Like a rose-leaf I will crush thee, fairy Lilian."

12. Tennyson wrote poems about a variety of women whose names started with the letter M. Who is NOT one of them?

Answer: Mirabel

Tennyson's monumental work was "Maud", based on the Shakespeare play "Hamlet," consisting of three parts. Mariana was inspired by the line "Mariana in the moated grange" from "Measure for Measure". Margaret is called "sweet and pale." Another M is Madelein, "every varying," smiling and frowning in turn.

Answer: Oriana

Oriana is struck by an arrow, the scene described by her lover: "The false, false arrow went aside, Oriana; the damned arrow glanced aside and pierced thy heart, my love, my bride, Oriana." Closing off the sad chapter, the lover muses: "I walk, I dare not think of thee, Oriana. Thou liest beneath the greenwood tree."

14. The poem "Idylls of the King" deals with Arthur and Camelot. Five couples are named in the section "The Round Table". Can you name the woman, companion to Merlin, whose name starts with a V?

Answer: Vivien

The couples mentioned are Gareth and Lynette, Geraint and Enid, Merlin and Vivien, Lancelot and Elaine and lastly Pelleas and Ettarre.

15. Finally, two ladies lie dreaming in a shell. One of them is called Minnie. The name of the other is from Welsh. Who is she?

Answer: Winnie

The subject of a very short poem, the writer asks: "What are they dreaming of? Who can tell?"

Source: Author sterretjie101

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