War Poetry Trivia

1. Which poem begins with the line "'Lads, you're wanted, go and help'"?

From Quiz WWI Poetry

Answer: 'Recruiting' by E. A. Mackintosh

E. A. (Ewart Alan) Mackintosh's poem is extremely bitter, critical and angry about the hypocricy of the civilians at the time of the war. This is because the "fat civilians" did not appreciate the brave and honest soldiers out fighting in France and Belgium - they would change their tune completely if they were young enough to fight. Mackintosh's language is very clear and blunt and no imagery such as similes or metaphors are used. This reflects the harsh reality of war and the inevitable death that will come to many soldiers. Furthermore, the regular rhyme and rhythm of the poem reflects this, and the sound of the soldiers marching.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Astyanax

Hector went to his wife to bid her farewell, for the skirmishes intensified. At this scene Andromache tried to convince Hector to leave the battlefield, lest she would be widowed. But Hector replied: "No man, against my fate, sends me to Hades. / And as for fate, I'm sure no man escapes it, / Neither a good nor bad man, once he's born." Hector's son Astyanax was frightened by the glinting helmet. So Hector took off his helmet to comfort his son. By the way, Hector called his son Scamandrios. But the rest of the Trojans called him Astyanax. Orestes is the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and is mentioned in the tragedies by Aeschylus. Telemachos was the son of Odysseus and Penelope and turns up in Homer's "Odyssey" . And Iulus (also known as Ascanius) was the son of Aeneas and Creusa. We find him and his father in Virgil's "Aeneid".

From Quiz The Poetry of War

Answer: English Civil War

Lovelace was an ardent supporter of the doomed King Charles I, and was extremely poor for most of his life due to his constant donations to the royalist cause. The poem describes its narrator's heartbreak after deciding that he must leave Lucasta for a more violent mistress, ending with the immortal line "I could not love thee Dear, so much,/ Loved I not honour more."

From Quiz Poetry and War

Answer: War of 1812

It was written by Francis Scott Key.

From Quiz More WWI Poetry

Answer: 'The Seed-Merchant's Son' by Agnes Grozier Herbertson

The last line is ambiguous, as it refers to the boy's father thanking God for his death. This could be because he is glad that he knows at last and he won't have to keep worrying about him any more, that he is glad that his son is not suffering any more, and that at least his son had a chance at life.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Aeneid

The Greek Homer (probably 8th Century BC) had left two magnificent epic poems: the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". The Roman poet Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC) undertook the venture to create a Roman penchant: the "Aeneid", in which Aeneas (a fugitive from Troy) sails to Italy and founds a dynasty which will lead to Romulus and Remus. "TImeO DanaOS, et DOna feRENtes" (I've capitalised the stressed syllables) is a reference to the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus came up with a notorious scheme. The Greeks constructed a large statue of a wooden horse, supposedly a gift to the Gods. But in fact a squadron of brave Greeks were hidden inside the statue. When the rest of the Greeks sailed off (a feint), the Trojans rolled the statue inside Trojan walls. The Trojan high priest Laocoon warned against this act with the aforesaid words: "Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes". The other options are theatre plays by the three best known ancient Greek tragedy writers. "Agamemnon" was written by Aeschylus (ca 525 BC - ca 456 BC), "Alcestis" by Euripides (about 480 BC- about 406 BC) and "Antigone" by Sophocles (497 BC - 406 BC).

From Quiz War Poetry through the Ages

Answer: Second Boer War

This poem is called "Bridge-Guard in the Karroo". Not everybody knows that there were two Boer wars. I certainly didn't. The first one lasted a year, from 1880-1881; the second from 1899-1902. When people mention the Boer War, they're usually talking about the second one. Both were fought in South Africa. Rudyard Kipling [1865-1936] was born in Bombay [Mumbai], India, and is best-known for his novel "The Jungle Book", and his short story "The Man who would be King". He was the first English writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1907, and to this day he remains the youngest recipient; he was 42 when he was awarded his Nobel Prize.

From Quiz Poems On War And Death

Answer: Anthem for Doomed Youth

Owen was born in Oswestry, Wales.Was a teacher in France when war broke out.Enlisted in 1915. Killed in action on the banks of the Sambre-Oise, in 1918. Apart from (Brooke's) 'The Soldier' all poems mentioned in this question are by Owen. 'Dulce et Decorum Est' is the cruel description of a gas attack casualty.

From Quiz Poetry and War

Answer: American Civil War

It was written by Julia Ward Howe.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Light Brigade

The lines in question come from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's famous poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' about the battle of the same name that took place during the Crimean War. The poem was written in 1854, only weeks after the disastrous military action which sent the cavalry unit known as the Light Brigade into a direct battle against Russian artillery, with predictable results. The Light Brigade lost over 100 men and 300 horses and were forced into a quick and humiliating retreat. It turned out that the cavalry had been mistakenly sent into battle against the wrong target thanks to misleading communication and poor leadership. Tennyson's famous lines also reflect the fact that the soldiers must have been able to see that were headed for an incredibly mismatched fight, but followed orders and continued on with the charge regardless. Tennyson was not a "war poet" in the sense of following or taking part in the action himself. In 1854 he held the position of Poet Laureate, which comes with the remit to produce poetry to commemorate events of national importance.

From Quiz More WWI Poetry

Answer: Young

Wilfred Owen's poem is an allegory (a story using symbols to represent ideas, etc.) about the governments' refusal to halt the war. It is an adapted re-telling of Abraham and Isaac from the Bible, but here, Abraham kills his son rather than the Ram of Pride. Here, the governments of both countries are represented by 'Abram', who would not sacrifice his pride, and so "slew his son" Isaac "and half the seed of Europe, one by one."

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Song of Roland

"The Song of Roland" is an anonymous text in medieval French. It has been translated into many languages, and Project Gutenberg stores the English translation. The story is that Charlemagne is fighting the Moors in Spain. Charlemagne's rear guard takes position at the pass of Roncevaux. There the Moors attack the rear guard, vastly outnumbering the Christian forces. Roland, the commander of the rear guard, uses his sword Durendal to kill as many Moors he can and only blows the horn Elephant at the last moment. Charlemagne's main force returns to Roncevaux, only to find the rear guard completely slaughtered. Here is a quote from an English translation of this text (chapter 85): "'Comrade Rollanz, sound the olifant, I pray; / If Charles hear, the host he'll turn again; / Will succour us our King and baronage.' / Answers Rollanz: 'Never, by God, I say, / For my misdeed shall kinsmen hear the blame,/ Nor France the Douce fall into evil fame! / Rather stout blows with Durendal I'll lay, / With my good sword that by my side doth sway; / Till bloodied o'er you shall behold the blade. / Felon pagans are gathered to their shame; / I pledge you now, to death they're doomed to-day.'" Song of Solomon is a love song in the Bible. Song of Bernadette is an historic novel by Franz Werfel (1890-1945). Song of Hiawatha is an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

From Quiz War Poetry through the Ages

Answer: Vietnam War

This poem, entitled "A Vow", was written about the Vietnam War. American involvement in it lasted from 1965-1975. Allen Ginsberg, (1926-1997), was an American poet, born in New Jersey, who is considered to be at the forefront of The Beat Generation. He started writing letters to the New York Times about WWII and workers' rights when he was just a teenager. For the rest of his life, which was centred around San Francisco, Ginsberg was a controversial activist, both for political reform and in gay rights, and an anti-Vietnam protester of note.

From Quiz The Poetry of War

Answer: 600

"All in the valley of death/ Rode the six hundred" In actuality, there were 673 cavalrymen in the brigade, of whom 113 would not survive the charge. The charge was the finish of the much larger battle of Balaclava (involving approximately 25,000 troops). Historians now believe that the brigade simply charged (or were ordered to charge) the wrong set of Russian guns. Tennyson realized this and wrote in his poem that "...the soldier knew/Someone had blunder'd/Their's not to reason why/Their's not to make reply/Their's but to do and die."

From Quiz Poems On War And Death

Answer: Verdun

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) is one of the better AMerican poets and also wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Gettysburg was on 1st,2nd and 3d of July 1863. Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest victory.Near Brno, the French Emperor defeated the Emperors of Russia and Austria.(2 Dec. 1805). Waterloo (18th June, 1815) was Napoleon's definite downfall. Verdun has been called 'the greatest and lengthiest battle in world history'.It lasted from 21st February 1916 till 19 December 1916.Some 700,000 casualties.

From Quiz Poetry and War

Answer: Civil War & American Civil War & US Civil War

It was by John Greenleaf Whittier.

From Quiz More WWI Poetry

Answer: Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit explores the world of nature in this poem and how she will not appreciate it, as her love is dead. For example, she writes "Just like last year's violets, too, || But they have no scent this year." The fact that she cannot appreciate the scent is because she cannot feel any joy after his death.

From Quiz WWI Poetry

Answer: 'The Send-Off' by Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen's poem suggests that no-one cares about the soldiers, as there were no crowds to watch them go and "we never heard to which front these were sent". This poem is sad, as it says that not enough soldiers will return from war when it ends. It also contains mixed, contradictory feelings, represented by oxymorons.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Trojan War

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) was a famous English poet. His work "The Canterbury Tales" is a collection of stories told by pilgrims on the route to Canterbury, and has a structure that reminds us of the "Decamerone" by Boccaccio (1313-1375). "The Canterbury Tales" was completed around 1380, while "Troilus and Chryseide" dates from about the same decade. Here are the first verses of "Troilus and Chryseide": "The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, / That was the king Priamus sone of Troye, / In lovinge, how his aventures fellen / Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye, / My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye." I'll try to give a more modern version, with the stressed syllables in capitals: "The DOUble SORrow of TROIlus to TELL here, / who WAS King PRIamus' SON, of TROY, / In LOving, HOW his adVENtures LEAD him / From WOE to WELL, and AFter ALL of JOY - eh / My PURpose IS to SHARE with YOU this." Don't shoot the pianist: the modern text was my own effort. In fact "Troilus and Chryseide" is set around the Trojan War, but the main subject is a love story - the war serves only as a background. You've read earlier in this section that Chaucer died in 1400. The Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), the Crimean War (1853-1856) and the American Civil War (1861-1865) were events yet to come.

From Quiz The Poetry of War

Answer: Walt Whitman

The two poems on the death of Lincoln are "O Captain, My Captain" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". "The Wound Dresser" is told from the point of view of an old man being asked by the young to tell of his experiences in the civil war. Whitman describes the rows upon rows of wounded soldiers in the hospital tent, many with horrific wounds. Although he never met these soldiers before and never would again, he think that for one boy, "I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you".

From Quiz Poetry and War

Answer: World War I

It was written by e.e. cummings.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Second Boer War

The clues in the poem to the war being described are "a kopje-crest" - an Afrikaans word for the top of a small hill - and "the veldt" - a term used for the open grasslands of southern Africa. The Second Boer War was fought by the British against the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State in what is now South Africa, between October 1899 and May 1902. The poem is called 'Drummer Hodge' and is one of many that Hardy wrote about this conflict. Thomas Hardy is probably better known as a novelist, but he was also a prolific poet - particularly in the latter part of his career after he turned away from novel-writing following the poor reception of 'Jude the Obscure' (when some critics labelled it "Jude the Obscene"). Hardy's war poetry covered a range of conflicts, from the Napoleonic Wars (in 'The Dynasts' and other poems) to the Boer Wars and the First World War.

From Quiz WWI Poetry

Answer: Wilfred Owen & Owen

Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918) wrote many war poems, such as 'The Send Off' and 'The Parable of the Old Man and the Young'. In this poem, he focuses on the horrors of war during battle. The 46-line poem is split into three parts: before the battle, during the battle, and the aftermath. It is very descriptive, especially the first part, which is the longest, in order to reflect the long time waiting before the battle.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Gerusalemme Liberata

All the options were written by Tasso (1544-1595). Tasso grew up in Salerno near Naples and was sent to a Jesuit college. He started his career with the epic poem "Rinaldo" in 1562. "Gerusalemme Liberata" ("Jerusalem Liberated") is Tasso's prime opus. It was published in 1574 and deals with the events from the First Crusade. In ancient Roman tradition, Tasso starts this epic poem with a few lines sketching the content (and reminding very much of the first lines of Virgil's "Aeneid"). The text I chose were the very first two verses of the first chapter of "Gerusalemme Liberata". I haven't found a translation into English, so I've translated it myself as follows: "I sing the pious deeds and the captain / who freed Christ's magnificent tomb". "Dialoghi" ("Dialogues") is a miscellaneous work by Tasso. "Rime" ("Rhymes") explores the musicality of poetry: rhyme and rhythm. "Discorsi del poema eroico" ("A Treatise on the Heroic Poem") is a linguistic guideline to epic poetry.

From Quiz War Poetry through the Ages

Answer: Battle of Blenheim

The Battle of Blenheim [Blindheim], in Bavaria, Germany, was part of the War of the Spanish Succession, and it destroyed King Louis XIV of France's plans to dominate Europe. It was fought on 13 August, 1704. The Duke of Marlboro was John Churchill, an ancestor of Winston Churchill. Robert Southey (1774-1843), who wrote this poem called "The Battle of Blenheim", was born in Bristol, England. He grew up in the house of an eccentric aunt, and then attended Westminster School, from which he was expelled for starting a magazine called 'The Flagellant'. After his years at Oxford, he wrote unceasingly and in all forms: poetry, plays, biographies, and histories. He eventually attained the post of England's poet laureate.

From Quiz The Poetry of War

Answer: Wilfred Owen

This is one of the most famous anti-war war poems. The title comes from the phrase "Dulce et Decorum Est, pro patria mori", which translates to say "It is sweet and noble, to die for one's country". It is taken from an Ode of Horace and also appears on a memorial ampitheater in Arlington National Cemetary in the United States. Owen urges us to "Not tell with such ardent jest...the old lie" (the title of the poem), and describes the horrors of war and of the death of a man who didn't get his gas mask on in time. Ironically, he himself fell victim to that lie; he was gunned down by machine fire a mere week before the armistice that ended the great war.

From Quiz Poetry and War

Answer: World War I

From Quiz More WWI Poetry

Answer: 'Reported Missing' by Anna Gordon Keown

'Reported Missing' was a love poet for her son. Anna Gordon Keown insisted that her son was not dead, for she would know it if he were. Written in the form of ABBAACCADEEDAA (for rhyming words), the poem has a regular rhyme scheme and a regular rhythm with five beats to a line.

From Quiz WWI Poetry

Answer: The Bohemians

'The Bohemians' is about soldiers who refuse to "clean their buttons" etc, as they did not want to conform. This title is extremely ironic as, in the end, they all had to conform in death and they were put in the same graves as everyone else. The tone of the poem is fairly bitter, but ambivalent towards the bohemians - neither totally praising them nor criticising them.

From Quiz War and Remembrance

Answer: Richard III

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is so famous he needs no introduction. He wrote some forty-odd theatre plays, whereby the tragedies, comedies and histories take up each about a dozen works. "Richard III" is set at the end of the War of the Roses. Richard was the last king of the House of York, and would fight at Bosworth Field (1485) against Henry Tudor. During the battle Richard's mount was killed, after which he (according to Shakespeare) uttered the famous verse "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!". In Shakespeare's play as well as in real history, Richard III is killed on the battlefield. Henry Tudor would then in real history be crowned King of England. "Hamlet" , "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet" are famous tragedies by Shakespeare, but not English history plays.

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