Dead Poets Society Trivia Quiz

Answer: Horace

The Roman poet Horace wrote a long series of poems called "Odes" in 65 B.C.E. There he originated the Latin phrase famously echoed many times, as by actor Robin Williams in the movie "Dead Poets Society". The photo shows a horse--I hope it evoked the correct answer "Horace".

"Quam minimum credula postero", translated as "pluck the day and put very little trust in tomorrow", or more simply "seize the day", reminds us that life is brief:

Scale back your long hopes to a short period. While we speak,
time is envious and is running away from us.
Seize the day (for it is ripe), trusting little in the future.

Answer: Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright born in 1892, the third woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1923). The photo shows a painting by and of Vincent Van Gogh. St. Vincent Millay's collection "Figs from Thistles" was criticized for its feminist and sexual themes, but the poet Richard Wilbur said she penned "some of the best sonnets of the century". Edna died in 1950 at just 58 after falling down stairs. She was buried next to her husband.

"Figs from Thistles: First Fig":

"My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light!"

Answer: Be merry

In the King James Bible, Isaiah 22:13, men advised one another to seize the day, though it must be said Isaiah did not agree:

"And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die."

From Ecclesiastes 8:15: "Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, then to eat, and to drink, and to be merry". The photo shows some symbols of those who "marry". Not that you needed a hint.

Answer: To His Coy Mistress

A great "seize the moment" persuasion in English literature, Andrew Marvell's (1621-1678) celebrated poem, "To His Coy Mistress" is an attempt to woo his mistress into sleeping with him, because after all, she'll be in her grave all too soon. The photo is of mist, a hint for the answer "mistress".

Around this time tens of thousands died in the English Civil War, so an acute awareness existed that life can be terribly brief. Ironically, this urgent seduction was likely of little help to Marvell, as it was not published until 1681, after his death:

"Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love's day..."

Answer: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (about 1564-1616) wrote "O Mistress Mine", advocating that his mistress linger with him and enjoy her youth. The photo is of asparagus spears, to evoke the answer Shakespeare:

"O Mistress Mine":

"O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming...

What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure."

Answer: Ernest Dowson

An English poet, in 1896 Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) wrote 'Vita Summa Brevis' about the brief 'days of wine and roses'. The photo brings to mind another Ernest, an author. Ernest Borgnine was an actor.

The Latin title of this work, 'Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam', Dowson took from an ode by Horace, "The brief sum of life denies us the hope of entertaining far-off hopes". That is, we are not enduring. Dowson led a tragic life and died young. He proposed to a girl of just eleven, who rejected it. His mother hung herself. Oscar Wilde wrote of him, "Poor wounded wonderful fellow that he was, a tragic reproduction of all tragic poetry...":

"...They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream."

Answer: A.E. Housman

Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) was a classical scholar and poet, writing simply and beautifully in "A Shropshire Lad" about a difficult time in a county of England. In the second of Housman's 63-poem cycle the lad comes to realize he has only a biblical threescore years and ten to live, and he is already twenty. So he had best seize the day, starting with admiration of the lovely cherry blossoms, like those shown here in the photo:

"...Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow..."

Answer: Roses

Attributed to both Virgil and Ausonius at different times in history, the poem "De rosis nascentibus" gave us "collige, virgo, rosas"--in English "gather, girl, the roses". It's another of the many poems urging young people in particular to seize the day--actively enjoy youth and the riches of existence. There are several translations of the original poem, but the message remains--Maid, pluck thy rose. Virgins, gather the roses.

Roses are often used in poetry to show that vibrancy and beauty lift the heart, yet shrivel and fade quickly, as roses do. In the photo a bee hurries to gather nectar from a flower.

Answer: Robert Frost

American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) of Vermont published "Carpe Diem" in 1938, expressing a belief it is tomorrow we must grasp, not today. He says the present is so rich and vivid, so overwhelming, we shouldn't stop to "seize" it. The young, especially, should instead seize the future:

"But bid life seize the present?
It lives less in present
Than in the future always,
And less in both together
Than in the past. The present
Is too much for the senses,
Too crowding, too confusing
Too present to imagine."

Answer: Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (1648) is a poem Robin Williams (John Keating) quotes in the 1989 film "Dead Poets Society". Keating asks his students about the meaning of the poem and then advises, "Carpe diem. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary". Several of these now famous actors (such as Ethan Hawking and Josh Charles) attribute an ignited passion for acting to this film. So many across time are inspired and uplifted by Herrick's words, and his sentiments are repeated in countless forms, while Herrick himself was likely inspired by the earlier words "gather girl, the roses" written by either Virgil or Ausonius. Herrick (1591-1674) urges his readers not to tarry, but to live life to its fullest:

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
To-morrow will be dying..."