Poetry for Kids Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mouse

Burns was born in Scotland, and his poems are sometimes written in words which sound strange to our ears. 'To a Mouse' is said to have been written when Burns accidentally disturbed the nest of a field mouse while he was ploughing a field. He is telling her he is sorry for the damage he has caused and that she has no reason to fear him.

Answer: Treasure Island

'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest; Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!; Drink and the devil had done for the rest; Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!' were the only words written by Stevenson in 'Treasure Island'. The words were the chorus of a sea shanty created by the author for the book.

A full poem, based on Stevenson's partial poem, was written by an American author named Young E. Allison, who called his work 'Derelict'.

Answer: T S Eliot

'Old Possum' was the nickname Thomas Stearns Eliot used when he wrote to his godchildren, and the poems about cats were sent to the children. They were then collected together and published in one book. Among the cats he wrote about are 'Macavity', 'Mr. Mistoffelees' and 'Old Deuteronomy'. The book was adapted for the long running stage musical called 'Cats'.

Answer: Pipe

'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' tells the story of a town which has been overrun by rats. The piper promises to free the town, and plays a tune which attracts all the rats to follow him. When the people fail to pay him, as promised, the piper plays a different tune which makes all the children of the town chase after him, never to be seen again. Among the verses of the poem are 'Rats!; They fought the dogs and killed the cats; And bit the babies in the cradles'.

Answer: Toes

Edward Lear was well known for his nonsense verse, of which the best known is probably 'The Owl and the Pussycat'. 'The Pobble Who Has No Toes' begins with him having as many toes as we have, but he then goes swimming in the Bristol Channel. Nobody knows how he lost his toes. As the poem puts it 'Whether the shrimps or crawfish gray; Or crafty Mermaids stole them away; Nobody knew, and nobody knows;
How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes!'

Answer: Sonnet

All the answers are different forms of poetry, but those with fourteen lines are known as 'sonnets'. Shakespeare's sonnet have a particular rhyming scheme, usually described as a,b,a,b; c,d,c,d; e,f,e,f, as the lines with the same letters are rhymes. The final two lines then rhyme with each other, which is known as a rhyming couplet. One of Shakespeare's best known sonnets is called 'Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day'.

Answer: Green Eggs and Ham

All these stories were by Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel. In 'Green Eggs and Ham', the character called 'Sam I Am' tries to persuade someone to eat the green eggs and ham. The book has simple rhymes like 'house' and 'mouse'. Eventually, Sam succeeds and the green eggs and ham turn out to be much nicer than they sound.

Answer: Daffodils

The poem was first published in 1807 and was inspired by a walk Wordsworth took with his sister. They lived in the Lake District of England, and were walking by one of the lakes when they saw the daffodils. Wordsworth describes seeing them 'along the lake, beneath the trees; ten thousand dancing in the breeze'.

Answer: Arthur

The 'Idylls of the King' are a series of twelve poems about King Arthur and his knights of the round table. The poems were based on the book written by Sir Thomas Malory in the fifteenth century and called 'Le Morte d'Arthur'. The French words translate into English as 'the death of Arthur' and are the basis for the legends which surround this king.

Answer: Carpenter

'Through the Looking Glass' was the second book to tell the story of the adventures which Alice had. The first book was 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. In the poem, the walrus and the carpenter are walking on a beach and persuade a lot of oysters to join them. When they stop for a rest, the oysters get eaten by the walrus and carpenter - every single one.