FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Great Poets & Poems Trivia Quiz

You've probably heard of these poems and poets but do you REALLY know them?

A multiple-choice quiz by ssabreman. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
ssabreman

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
286,957

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
865

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Who wrote the poem, "If~", about good fatherly advice?
Hint

Robert Frost

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Rudyard Kipling

William Butler Yeats

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. William Blake wrote which poem about a jungle creature? Hint

The Tyger

Giraffe

The Crocodile

The Elephant

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Which poem did ee cummings write about early spring, mentioning "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful?" Hint

Spring Equinox

Spring in New Hampshire

In Just-spring

Spring and All

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Which of these poems ends with a suicide? Hint

The Cremation of Sam McGee

Richard Cory

I'm Nobody, Who Are You?

The Man He Killed

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Which well-known poem mentioning certain flowers was written by William Wordsworth and begins with "I wandered lonely as a cloud..."? Hint

Daffodils

Bouquets

Ah Sun-Flower

A Red, Red Rose

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. Which of these poems is written by Carl Sandburg, not about the time of day, but about a time in history? Hint

Buffalo Dusk

A Summer Morning

Daybreak

Afternoon on a Hill

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," was written by which poet? Hint

Thomas Hardy

Dylan Thomas

Edward Thomas

Thomas Dylan

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" is one poem from a collection that served as the basis for a famous musical. Who wrote these poems? Hint

E. M. Forster

T. S. Eliot

W. H. Auden

D. H. Lawrence

9. Which person completes this part of the A. E. Housman poem, "When I Was One-and-Twenty?"

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard ________________ say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;" Hint

my father

my teacher

my conscience

a wise man

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. "O Captain! My Captain!" was written by which great poet? The poem is also used in the movie "Dead Poets Society." Hint

William Wordsworth

Walt Whitman

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who wrote the poem, "If~", about good fatherly advice?

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

2. William Blake wrote which poem about a jungle creature?

Answer: The Tyger

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" ...

"The Crocodile" was by Lewis Carroll, "The Elephant" was by Carlos Drummond De Andrade and "Giraffe" was by Stanley Plumly.

3. Which poem did ee cummings write about early spring, mentioning "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful?"

Answer: In Just-spring

"In Just-spring," by ee cummings is a free-verse poem about the joys of early spring. "Spring and All," was by William Carlos Williams, "Spring in New Hampshire," was by Claude McKay and "Spring Equinox," was by Peter Blue Cloud.

4. Which of these poems ends with a suicide?

Answer: Richard Cory

"Richard Cory," by Edwin Arlington Robinson, tells about a man who had it all, but ended his life by putting a bullet through his head.
"The Cremation of Sam McGee," by Robert Service, was about a man who eventually froze to death in the Yukon while searching for gold.
"I'm Nobody, Who Are You?" by Emily Dickinson, was about not being part of the crowd of somebodies. There are no deaths in the poem.
"The Man He Killed," by Thomas Hardy, was about one man shooting another simply because he's on the other side in a war.

5. Which well-known poem mentioning certain flowers was written by William Wordsworth and begins with "I wandered lonely as a cloud..."?

Answer: Daffodils

"Ah Sun-Flower," was by William Blake, "A Red, Red Rose," was by Robert Burns and "Bouquets," was by Robert Francis.

6. Which of these poems is written by Carl Sandburg, not about the time of day, but about a time in history?

Answer: Buffalo Dusk

"Buffalo Dusk' is about the disappearance of the buffalo and those who lived at that time in history.
"Afternoon on a Hill," was by Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Daybreak" was by Galway Kinnel and "A Summer Morning" was by Rachel Field.

7. "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," was written by which poet?

Answer: Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas was a modern poet who lived a relatively short life. Born in Wales in 1914, he died suddenly in New York in 1953.

8. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" is one poem from a collection that served as the basis for a famous musical. Who wrote these poems?

Answer: T. S. Eliot

"Cats" was based on T. S. Eliot's work, "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." The collection was first published in 1939. The musical opened in London in May, 1981, and on Broadway in October 1982.

9. Which person completes this part of the A. E. Housman poem, "When I Was One-and-Twenty?" When I was one-and-twenty I heard ________________ say, "Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away;"

Answer: a wise man

Housman was a professor of Latin at Cambridge University from 1911 until his death in 1936. His poetry was influenced by Greek and Latin lyric poetry and by traditional ballads.

10. "O Captain! My Captain!" was written by which great poet? The poem is also used in the movie "Dead Poets Society."

Answer: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman wrote this poem following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He had admired Lincoln and was saddened by his death.
When the students in the movie are introduced to their new curriculum, their English teacher tells them that they can call him "O Captain! My Captain!" if they are daring.

Source: Author ssabreman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.