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Jeffers Robinson Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Jeffers Robinson Quizzes, Trivia

Robinson Jeffers Trivia

Robinson Jeffers Trivia Quizzes

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3 Robinson Jeffers quizzes and 30 Robinson Jeffers trivia questions.
1.
  Robinson Jeffers    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Between World War I and World War II, Robinson Jeffers was generally considered to be the greatest American writer ever. Now, however, he is largely forgotten. Test your knowledge of this once-major poet and his more famous poems.
Tough, 10 Qns, NormanW5, Jan 30 06
Tough
NormanW5
129 plays
2.
  The Life and Lines of Robinson Jeffers    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz connects great lines from Jeffers' poetry with his life. This time, the emphasis is more on the biography than the poetry.
Average, 10 Qns, NormanW5, Jan 01 06
Average
NormanW5
129 plays
3.
  Lines from Robinson Jeffers    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Once considered America's greatest writer, Robinson Jeffers wrote powerful poems with lines that can still move people. How many can you recognize?
Tough, 10 Qns, NormanW5, Feb 07 17
Tough
NormanW5
126 plays
Related Topics
  Poetry [Literature] (166 quizzes)


Robinson Jeffers Trivia Questions
1. At the height of his popularity, Jeffers was most famous for his novel-length verse narratives. The publication of "Thurso's Landing" occasioned which major magazine to feature Jeffers on its cover?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: TIME

It is extremely rare for a poet to make the cover of TIME, but Jeffers has not been the only one. Amy Lowell was the first, and T. S. Eliot was featured after him.

2. Jeffers was loved for his beautiful descriptions of nature. The following lines open which famous poem? "The ebb slips from the rock, the sunken Tide-rocks lift streaming shoulders Out of the slack, the slow west Sombering its torch"

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: Night

Jeffers' strong depictions of nature (and his ecological philosophy) make him a favorite with the Sierra Club to this day.

3. "The Bed by the Window" is frequently included in anthologies of American poems. What about the bed made it interesting for Jeffers to write about?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: He had chosen the bed as a good death-bed

Jeffers did eventually die in the bed, just as he had planned to, but not until 30 years after he first published the poem.

4. Jeffers wrote a play retelling a story originally made famous by an earlier playwrite. Starring Judith Anderson and John Gielgud, it was a smash hit on Broadway in 1947. What was the title of that play?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: Medea

Medea was Anderson's most important and well known role. At the end of her career she again took a role in Jeffers' drama, but this time she played the nurse and Zoe Caldwell played Medea.

5. One of the reasons Jeffers lost his high reputation was that he held highly unpopular political opinions. Which quote from "Shine, Perishing Republic" shows his opinion of America between the World Wars?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire,

Later in the poem, Jeffers hopes his children will "keep their distance from the thickening center."

6. This line, perhaps Jeffers' most famous, caused him great trouble. "I'd sooner, ___________________________; but the great redtail Had nothing left but unable misery From the bone too shattered for mending . . ."

From Quiz Lines from Robinson Jeffers

Answer: accept the penalties, kill a man than a hawk

Jeffers regretfully "gave him the lead gift in the twilight." Hawks were a favorite symbol for Jeffers, but he loved real hawks even more.

7. Jeffers' poems usually were written in an unusual style which gave him a strong, distinctive voice. Which of the below is so characteristic of Jeffers that he is known by this feature?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: He writes in unusually long lines

Jeffers' long lines are responsible for the real sense of power and grandeur in his best work.

8. Jeffers died on January 20 1962. Which is the best statement of the state of his poetic reputation at that time?

From Quiz The Life and Lines of Robinson Jeffers

Answer: He was largely ignored.

"Fustian and rodomontade" both mean "pretentious'. Kenneth Rexroth was the poet and critic who used that rodomotade language in a dismissive review. The review may have been overblown, but Rexroth told the truth when he also wrote "Today, young people simply do not read him." Jeffers reputation has recovered somewhat in recent years, but his writing will probably never again reach the stature it had when he was put on the cover of the April 4, 1932 issue of TIME magazine.

9. Jeffers' last book of poetry was published after his death. Its primary subject combined his interest in religion and his interest in science. What was its title?

From Quiz Robinson Jeffers

Answer: The Beginning and the End, and Other Poems

Jeffers was 75 when he died in 1962, in "the bed by the window" that he had written about in his 40s. "The Beginning and the End" tells of the creation of the universe (the big bang).

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