A Poetic Alphabet Trivia Quiz

Answer: A letter or syllable omitted at the beginning of a word

An example would be: "'Twas the night before Christmas..."

Answer: A shepherdess

A bucolic poem deals with the countryside and its inhabitants, often in an idyllic manner. The term comes from Greek "boukolos", a herdsman.

Answer: Caesura

Alexander Pope's "Eloise to Abelard" is full of examples of caesura:

"Alas how changed! What sudden horrors rise!
A naked lover bound and bleeding lies!"

The first line is a "strong" caesura since it coincides with a punctuation mark. The second line is an example for "weak" caesura; it still calls for a pause between "lover" and "bound".

Answer: Dirge

A dirge is a lament. A didactic poem instructs; a ditty is a simple little poem meant to be sung; and doggerel refers to poetry that lacks in artistry, sometimes used for comic or satirical effect.

Answer: Epitaph

An epitaph is a short commemorative statement or poem. An epithet is a descriptive term or phrase; it can also mean an insult. An epic would be rather too long for a tomb stone, and an epigram is a short, witty saying.

Answer: All of these

Figurative language uses a number of devices to create mental images and evoke emotions.

Answer: Aphorism

This term derives probably from Greek "gignoskein" - "to come to know", while "gnome" as in "garden gnome" likely comes from Greek "genomos" - "earth-dweller". Examples of gnomic poetry can be found in ancient Egyptian and Tibetan texts as well as the Bible, Greek tragedy and Beowulf, but any pithy saying can be called a gnome.

Answer: Haiku

The haiku tradition began in the 17th century. A Japanese haiku usually conveys images of connectedness with nature.

Answer: Impressionism

A late 19th century movement that also found expression in art and music, impressionist poetry sought to convey the poet's impressions rather than to portray reality.

Answer: True

It comes from the same root as "juggler", and prior to the 10th century "jongleur" included acrobats and entertainers in general.

Answer: Kyrielle

A kyrielle is a Middle French verse form, usually in quatrains, with a repetitive last line. It comes from "kyrie eleison - Lord have mercy" and traditionally incorporates this phrase or concept. Good examples are "A Lenten Hymn" by Thomas Campion, and the famous "Epitaphe" by Francois Villon.

Answer: Limerick

Limericks are often on the "naughty" side.

Answer: 9

At one time there was only one Muse, then three, but eventually the Greeks settled on nine. Their names are: Calliope: Muse of epic poetry; Clio: Muse of history; Erato: Muse of lyric and love poetry; Euterpe: Muse of music; Melpomene: Muse of tragedy; Polyhymnia: Muse of sacred poetry; Terpsichore: Muse of dance; Thalia: Muse of comedy; Urania: Muse of astronomy.

Answer: Nonsense poetry

Nonsense poetry often makes use of made-up and "portmanteau words": two words drawn together, as in "smoke" and "fog" to make "smog".

Answer: Ode

John Keats especially is famous for his odes on such subjects as a nightingale, a Grecian urn, and melancholy.

Answer: Westminster Abbey

Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to be buried there, not because he was a poet but because he had been Clerk of Works for the city of Westminster. A better tomb was built for him in the 1550s, and in 1599 Edmund Spenser was buried nearby. That started the tradition. The area also contains busts and other memorabilia of poets buried elsewhere.

Answer: 14

A sonnet is a kind of quatorzain.

Answer: Rhopalic verse

The word derives from the Greek rhopalos, for a club or cudgel. Rhopalic verse is also called snowball verse and wedge verse. A reverse rhopalic poem starts with a long line and gets progressively shorter.

Answer: An Old English term for poet

Pronounced like "shop", the scop wrote epics and lays that might be performed by himself or a gleeman. Scops were held in high regard.

Answer: Tagalied

The literal translation from German is "day song". The word also refers to "lovers parting at dawn".

Answer: Understatement

Meiosis is the opposite of hyperbole. An example of meiosis would be somebody on his deathbed saying: "I'm not having a very good day."

Answer: Bard

A versifier, poetaster, poeticule or rhymester is a writer of light or inferior verse.

Answer: The White Man's Burden

The poem talks about the supposed responsibility of white people to govern non-whites and was widely seen as a glorification of British colonialism.

Answer: Xanadu

Once when he was ill, Coleridge fell asleep and dreamed about this fantastic country. Upon awakening he feverishly wrote down the lines he could remember, but unfortunately he was interrupted and afterwards the vision had fled. Kublai Khan was a real person, a grandson of Genghis Khan who became emperor of China and started the Yuan dynasty.

Answer: Yevtushenko - Zima

Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born in Zima in Irkutsk on July 18, 1933. He took a critical view of life in the Soviet Union. Since the 1970s he has been active in a wide field of culture. His first important narrative poem "Zima Junction" was published in 1956.