Poetry Trivia

1. W.B Yeats wrote "A shudder in the loins engenders there the broken wall, the burning roof and tower and Agamemnon dead." Name the poem.

From Quiz Poetry...here, there, everywhere

Answer: Leda and the Swan

"Leda and the Swan" uses the mythological theme of the Rape of Leda by Zeus, disguised as a swan. As a result, Leda gave birth to Helen of Sparta and thus set off the chain of events that would lead to the Trojan War, the destruction of Troy and the murder of the returning Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra.

From Quiz American Poems and Poets You Should Know

Answer: Solitude

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) wrote this poem after riding on a train in a car with a woman in mourning for her dead husband. She spent the time on the train trying to comfort the woman. Wilcox was headed for an inaugural ball at the time but was so depressed after her time on the train, she could hardly manage to attend the festivities. After arriving at her destination she wrote the opening lines of the poem that would become "Solitude". "Laugh and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone, For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own." When she later completed the poem, she sent it into the "New York Sun" where it was published in 1883. She received five dollars for the work.

From Quiz In the Forests of the Night

Answer: Tiger

This excerpt comes from the poem 'The Tiger,' or as it was originally entitled 'The Tyger'. Blake was a Romantic poet of the 18th and 19th century. 'The Tyger' was published in 1794 as part of a collection of poems entitled 'Songs of Experience'. It remains his best known piece of poetry and one of the most famous pieces of British poetry.

From Quiz Often Anthologized Oldies

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.

From Quiz Classic Poems

Answer: A Bush Christening

"A Bush Christening" told the story of an outback family and the visit of an itinerant preacher who was called upon to christen the son of the family, and the hilarious results of his endeavours.

From Quiz A Little Something About Poetry

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "Requiem" is used as the epitaph for his gravestone. Stevenson wrote "Requiem" fourteen years before his death.

From Quiz Our Favorite Poets

Answer: Lord Byron

"She Walks in Beauty" was written in 1814; there is academic argument as to whom this English bard actually dedicated this short, yet romantic poem. Lord Byron gained fame and adoration for his great works of poetry, yet society eventually shunned him after it could no longer tolerate his excesses with alcohol and women. His most famous liaisons were with the Lady Caroline Lamb and a supposed incestuous affair with his half sister Augusta. Byron died in self exile at the age of 36 in 1824. This question was submitted by Poetic License team member Jennywren53.

From Quiz Contemporary American Poets and Their Verse

Answer: Maya Angelou

While born in the same era as Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963. Emily Dickinson lived between 1830-1886. Amy Lowell lived from 1874-1925.

From Quiz The Ten Most Anthologized Poems

Answer: Robert Herrick

Herrick's poem starts "Gather you rose-buds while ye may"; today we might say, "Make hay while the sun shines", or "You only go around once". Herrick also wrote the number fourteen poem, called "Upon Julia's Clothes".

From Quiz Great Poets & Poems

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

"If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you... Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!" --Rudyard Kipling

From Quiz Poet's Potpourri

Answer: The Tyger

William Blake was born in London, England, on November 28, 1757 and died on August 12, 1827. He was a romantic poet, painter, printmaker and engraver who married but had no children. In this poem William Blake expresses the great wonder of Nature: that God who made the gentle lamb made also the awful tiger. The poem is as follows: "Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night! What immortal hand or eye Could frame they fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire- What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder and what art Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when they heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread feet? What the hammer, what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? Did God smile his work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee?"

From Quiz Discover a Golden Treasury of Poetry

Answer: P.B. Shelley's "To a Skylark"

The editor of the anthology from which these questions are taken was Francis Palgrave (1824-97) he became professor of poetry (1885-95) at Oxford University. A long time friend of Lord Tennyson he is probably best remembered as the editor of the famous anthology, "The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language" which was published in 1861. The really good news for the 21st century student is that the whole anthology is now on-line at http://www.bartleby.com/106/index3.html Percy Bysshe Shelley was born August 4, 1792 into a very privileged background but his personal idealism and high intellectual ability saw him bullied and abused in the public schools he attended. He met even more radical ideas when he went up to Oxford and was expelled for refusing to acknowledge or deny authorship of a pamphlet entitled "The Necessity of Atheism". His life is worth some study and I commend both his poetry and personal history of being worthy of further study if you want to consider how radicalism is not necessarily the sole province of the underprivileged.

From Quiz A Poetry Calendar

Answer: Michelangelo

'In the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.' T.S. Eliot's work was very diverse ranging from 'The Waste Land' and 'The Hollow Men' through to 'Macavity the Mystery Cat' and 'The Journey of the Magi'.

From Quiz Poets - 10 different ones

Answer: Marmion

Later in 'Marmion' he does write, "When pain and anguish wring the brow, a ministering angel thou!"

From Quiz Easy Poetry

Answer: Blake

When Blake was young, he used to see visions outside of his window. He also illustrated 'Songs of Experience' and 'Songs of Innocence.'

From Quiz Poetry and Writers

Answer: T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot went to Harvard, Oxford, and the Sorbonne.

From Quiz Poets and Poems

Answer: e.e.cummings

Opening Lines of e.e. cummings' sonnet of the same name.

From Quiz Pure Poetry Too

Answer: 39

From Quiz Poetry Time

Answer: Oscar Wilde

The line comes from the 'Ballad of Reading Gaol'

From Quiz Poets And Their Works

Answer: Walt Whitman

From Quiz Poetry Potpourri

Answer: Gunga Din

Kipling was born in India, in 1865, and took inspiration from the country in much of his work. The poem about Gunga Din, a water carrier who tended to wounded British soldiers, is told from the viewpoint of one such soldier, whose life is saved by the Indian. The soldier expresses his regrets for his poor treatment of Gunga Din, who has been killed while carrying out his duties, with the poem's last line recognising that the Indian proved himself the better man. Mowgli is from 'The Jungle Book', Kim from the 1901 novel of the same name and Jack is from the poem 'My Boy Jack', a victim of World War I - all from works by Kipling.

From Quiz Poetry...here, there, everywhere

Answer: William Shakespeare

It is from Sonnett 73 and is a metaphor for the end of life and, as the sonnet moves forward, approaching death, as described by one dear friend to another.

From Quiz Poetry in Motion

Answer: Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. In 1971 she published the Pulitzer Prize-nominated poetry collection "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die". In 1993 she wrote and performed "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Clinton's inaugural ceremony, the first inaugural recitation since Robert Frost read his poem "The Gift Outright" for President Kennedy in 1961. Her memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by a black woman. President Obama called her "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman". The world was greatly diminished by her death in 2014.

From Quiz Write Me a Poem, Baby

Answer: Egypt

"The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor" has been dated to about 2000 BC. It is much older than the Sumerian epic "Gilgamesh." It is about a sailor who is cast up on an island after his ship sinks. He meets a god in the form of a serpent who gives him many gifts, and promises him he will be saved. He eventually returns to Egypt and presents the gifts to the pharaoh, who rewards him. The poem was copied down by a scribe named Imen-Ah, Son of Imeny, but its author is unknown.

From Quiz A Perfect Hour

Answer: Kissed Me

"Jenny Kissed Me" is a well known and loved poem by Leigh Hunt, a 19th Century (1784-1859) poet, essayist and publisher. This poem has brought enjoyment to many readers for many years because of its sweet message and ease of commitment to memory - it just sticks with you. There are two stories of the origination of the poem, both about Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher, Thomas Carlyle's wife, Jane (Jenny). Hunt and his family lived next door to the Carlyles, and the families were very close. The first story is that Jane kissed Hunt when he brought good news to their door. The second story is most believed: Hunt was ill for quite a while, and when he recovered and came to the Carlyle door, Jane was so glad to see him, she jumped up and kissed him. Later Jane received a message from Hunt, containing this poem. "Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list. put that in. Say I'm weary, say I'm sad Say that health and wealth have missed me Say I'm growing old, but add, Jenny kissed me."

From Quiz In the Forests of the Night

Answer: The Lady Of Shalott

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was one of England's greatest Romantic poets and a favourite of Queen Victoria, being Poet Laureate throughout much of her reign. 'The Lady of Shalott' is one of his best known works, published in his second anthology, in 1833. Other noted poems of Tennyson include: 'In Memoriam', 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' and 'Maud'.

From Quiz Often Anthologized Oldies

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.

From Quiz A Little Something About Poetry

Answer: curfew

Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard" is one of the most widely quoted of all English poems. The poem referred to bodies buried in a church cemetery and contained thirty-two stanzas including the epitaph. Gray completed the poem in 1751, but it has been revised at least five times since it was first completed.

From Quiz Our Favorite Poets

Answer: Alliteration

The quote is from Edgar Allan Poe's classic, "The Raven". Alliteration is the repetition of one sound -- often for emotional effect; in this case, Poe uses the sibilant sound to evoke the sound of rustling curtains. This question was submitted by Poetic License team member Sretlaw.

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