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Plath Sylvia Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
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Sylvia Plath Trivia

Sylvia Plath Trivia Quizzes

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Sylvia Plath suffered from clinical depression for most of her adult life, leading her suicide at the age of 31. Before that, she produced a semi-autobiographical novel and several collections of poetry, for one of which she was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982.
6 Sylvia Plath quizzes and 85 Sylvia Plath trivia questions.
1.
  "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath    
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
This is my favorite book of all time. If you've read the book, most of these questions should be fairly easy.
Average, 20 Qns, tatsiko, Dec 11 24
Average
tatsiko
Dec 11 24
1761 plays
2.
  Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath    
Multiple Choice
 25 Qns
This quiz pertains to the life, death, triumphs, trials, and writings of my favorite poet Sylvia Plath.
Tough, 25 Qns, sinikul, Feb 11 13
Tough
sinikul
1535 plays
3.
  Sylvia Plath's Literature    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
A quiz detailing the life and literature of one of the 20th century's greatest poets.
Tough, 15 Qns, MntT77, Aug 03 10
Tough
MntT77
416 plays
4.
  Sylvia Plath Quotations    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Simply complete these quotations from Plath poems. If you enjoy this quiz, please take my similar Dickinson quiz.
Difficult, 10 Qns, BlueCanary, Oct 02 04
Difficult
BlueCanary
507 plays
5.
  Sylvia Plath    
Multiple Choice
 5 Qns
This quiz gives only basic facts about Sylvia Plath. Don't look here for any depth. I do hope you have fun, though!
Average, 5 Qns, CellarDoor, Jun 29 03
Average
CellarDoor gold member
1915 plays
6.
  The Bell Jar    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is about the novel "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath.
Average, 10 Qns, angelbaby07, Jul 05 05
Average
angelbaby07
697 plays
trivia question Quick Question
"He smoldered, as if stone-deaf, blindfold, His body beached with the sea's _____, A machine to breathe and beat forever. "

From Quiz "Sylvia Plath Quotations"




Related Topics
  Contemporary Literature and Fiction [Literature] (23 quizzes)

  Poetry [Literature] (166 quizzes)


Sylvia Plath Trivia Questions
1. How old was Sylvia when she had her first poem published?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath's Literature

Answer: Eight

Indeed, Plath started writing prose from a very young age. It was published in the children's section of "The Boston Herald".

2. "There would be a nobility then, there would be a birthday. And the knife not carve, but enter Pure and clean as the cry of a baby, And the _____ slide from my side."

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: universe

This quotation is the end of "A Birthday Present," which poem puts a unique slant on the concept of death.

3. How did Esther end up in New York City?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: She won a magazine contest

"There were twelve of us at the hotel. We had all won a fashion magazine contest, by writing essays and stories and poems and fashion blurbs..."

4. Sylvia Plath wrote only one novel which was published, 'The Bell Jar'. It was published under an assumed name. This name was:

From Quiz Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath

Answer: Victoria Lucas

Esther Greenwood (Sylvia Plath) is the name of the main character in The Bell Jar , Anne Sexton was a former poet and friend of Plath's, and Aurelia Schober was the maiden name of Plath's mother

5. Sylvia Plath was married to what British poet laureate?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath

Answer: Ted Hughes

Their marriage was unhappy.

6. What is the main character's name?

From Quiz The Bell Jar

Answer: Esther

Doreen and Betsy were her friends when she went to the "Ladies' Day" convention. Joan was her friend when she was in the mental hospital.

7. "The black bull ____ before the sea. The sea, till that day orderly, Hove up against Bendylaw."

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: bellowed

This is the opening stanza to "The Bull of Bendylaw."

8. What was Doreen's nickname for Betsy?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: Pollyanna Cowgirl

Betsy was from Kansas.

9. What is the title of her only novel?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath

Answer: 'The Bell Jar'

'The Bell Jar' is semi-autobiographical.

10. In several poems, including 'Lady Lazarus' and 'Daddy', Plath used the 'Holocaust' as a metaphor. Why?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath's Literature

Answer: To symbolise oppression

When she refers to someone else as a 'Nazi', she usually signifies herself as being a Jew, thus suggesting that she feels heavily oppressed by them. Although provoking controversy was probably not a primary aim, it certainly did so. Also, Plath's family weren't Jewish; they were Unitarian.

11. "Day now, night now, at head, side, feet, They stand their vigil in gowns of stone, Faces blank as the day I was born, Their ______ long in the setting sun That never brightens or goes down."

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: shadows

This quotation comes from the final stanza of "The Disquieting Muses", a poem which uses some very disturbing imagery in the expression of what it's like to live with depression.

12. What was the name Esther used as an alias when she and Doreen were out with Lenny Shepherd?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: Elly Higginbottom

She used this alias again when she met the sailor in Boston.

13. Hospitalized at age 20 for an attempted suicide, Plath stayed at which hospital?

From Quiz Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath

Answer: McLean

Plath was hospitalized for swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills and disappearing into a hole in a wall in her cellar only to be found by her mother 2 days later. Massachusetts General is the Hospital where Plath, in 1958 took up a part time job. St. George is actually the Church St. George's-The Martyr where Plath and Ted Hughes were married on June 16, 1956, and Saint Boltolph's is actually St. Botolph's Review where Plath first read the poetry of Ted Hughes.

14. What was her first collection of poetry called?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath

Answer: 'The Colossus'

15. In 2006, a previously unpublished Plath poem called "Ennui" was discovered. What structure did the poem take?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath's Literature

Answer: Sonnet

The poem takes the form of a sonnet, in that it has fourteen lines and a regular rhyme scheme: a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,g,f,g. It was written in her undergraduate years at Smith College, but was not published until 2006, in the online journal Blackbird. It may have been initially intended for publication, because her address is typed in the top-right corner, though this may simply have been a case of identifying the poem for her tutor.

16. "...Then I was seeing A melding of shapes in a hot rain: Horses warped on the altering green, Outlandish as double-humped camels or ______"

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: unicorns

This is a selection from "The Eye-Mote", another description of depression, this time of the onslaught as well as the continued suffering.

17. What gave all the girls food poisoning when they ate at the 'Ladies Day' kitchen?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: crab meat

They were in the movie theater when all of them started to feel sick. Betsy and Esther kept puking in the cab on the car ride back to the hotel.

18. In the fall of 1950 Plath began college, which college did she attend?

From Quiz Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath

Answer: Smith

Plath attended Smith from 1950-1955, harvard summer school in the summer of 54 and graduated summa cum {laude;} she won a Fulbright Scholarship to Cambridge.

19. And her second poetry collection?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath

Answer: 'Ariel'

'Ariel,' her most critically-acclaimed work, was published after her death.

20. "Old man, you _____ seldom. Then you come in with the tide's coming When seas wash cold, foam- "

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: surface

This is the first stanza of "Full Fathom Five", an intriguing personification of the sea.

21. Where did Constantin work?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: At the U.N.

He was a simultaneous interpreter at the U.N. Mrs. Willard gave him Esther's phone number in New York.

22. Plath and Hughes had two children, what were their names?

From Quiz Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath

Answer: Frieda and Nicholas

Otto and Aurelia were Plath's parents. Ted and Sylvia, well, that's Plath and Hughes, and Warren is her brother

23. How did Sylvia Plath die?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath

Answer: She killed herself

February 11, 1963.

24. How many poetry books did Plath publish in her lifetime?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath's Literature

Answer: One

That's right, just one. That poetry collection was entitled "The Colossus and Other Poems", published in 1960. "Ariel" was not published until 1965, two years after her death.

25. How did Joan die?

From Quiz The Bell Jar

Answer: She hung herself

It seemed like she was recovering, but sadly, she didn't.

26. "Little poppies, little hell flames, Do you do no harm? You flicker. I cannot ____ you. I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns."

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: touch

These are the first two stanzas of "Poppies in July". Both this poem and her other, "Poppies in October", characterize poppies in very different ways.

27. In 1953 Plath won a Guest Editorship at Mademoiselle magazine for a short story she wrote. What was the name of that story?

From Quiz Test Your Knowledge of Sylvia Plath

Answer: Sunday at the Minton's

'Appeal for World Peace' was published in the Christian Science Monitor on March 16, 1950, 'Summer Will Not Come Again' was published in the August 1950 edition of Seventeen, and the poem 'Bitter Strawberries' was published in the August 11, 1950 Christian Science Monitor

28. When Sylvia Plath published "The Bell Jar" in 1963, what name did she publish it under?

From Quiz Sylvia Plath's Literature

Answer: Victoria Lucas

Esther Greenwood is the persona Sylvia takes in the novel and Freida Hughes is the name of her daughter.

29. "As the gods began one world, and man another, So the snakecharmer begins a snaky sphere With moon-eye, mouth-pipe. He pipes. Pipes green. Pipes ____."

From Quiz Sylvia Plath Quotations

Answer: water

The opening lines to "Snakecharmer", a whimsical and haunting portrait of the act of creation.

30. What did the magazine photographer give Esther to symbolize that she wanted to be a poet?

From Quiz "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath

Answer: a rose

As soon as the photograher started to take the picture, Esther broke down and cried. This is one of the first physical signs of her depression.

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