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Loony Literary Limericks Trivia Quiz

Identify the author or literary character from these limericks. The harder examples will be multiple choice.

A multiple-choice quiz by jeremyb. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
jeremyb

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
229,288

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
8448

Awards
Editor's Choice

Last 3 plays: Lord_Digby (8/10), Coromom (9/10), amarie94903 (8/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. There was a young man of Verona
Saw Rosaline and wanted to own her.
She said "Nothing doing",
So he fell for her cousin
But feuds, potions, daggers have blown her.
Who is the Shakespearean hero described?

Answer: (5 letters or a call sign)

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. There was a young lady from Hartfield,
For matches, she always kept eyes peeled,
But truth failed her mightily
When Smith preferred Knightley
And so her own heart was revealed.
Who is Jane Austen's self-deceiving heroine?

Answer: (4 letters)

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. There was a pretty young wit lived at Longbourn,
Whose mother would grate on a saint born.
She met a young man,
So proud, rich and grand,
"The last man on earth", made her lovelorn. Hint

Charlotte Lucas

Jane Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet

Lydia Bennet

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Question 4 of 10

4. There was a young man from Derbyshire,
Who saw some "fine eyes" in Hertfordshire,
He said 'she's a cracker,
I'll have to unwrap her',
Though her connections and fortunes are so dire.
Who is the proud hero?

Answer: (5 letters)

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Question 5 of 10

5. There was a Miss Brooke, ideals to the core,
Who married a scholarly terrible bore.
His key was outdated,
Her goodliness sated,
She now is entwined with Will Ladislaw.
Name the book, parodied here. Hint

Middlemarch

Adam Bede

The Mill on the Floss

Silas Marner

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. There was a black general, you might know,
Whose self-doubt quite wracked him and more so.
That twisted Iago's
Inverted farragos,
He swallowed, the lot, took a pillow, dot dot, titwillow, titwillow, titwillow.
Who is this subject of Shakespeare's tragedy?

Answer: (7 letters, what moor can you want?)

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. There was a young prince from Elsinore,
Who couldn't sleep easy, let alone snore.
His father's old ghost
Warned of Claudius no boast.
He went mad, very sad and now's no more.
Name the this archetypical tragic hero?

Answer: (6 letters, no village boy.)

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. There was a young girl, washed t'Illyria,
Who went as a boy to woo 'Livia.
But her heart made her say no,
As she loved Duke Orsino.
Of all plots, there aren't many sillier.
Who is the heroine of Shakespeare's seasonal offering? Hint

Viola

Violet

Pansy

Primula

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Question 9 of 10

9. There was a young minx lived in Salem,
Who trumped up witch charges to nail 'em.
When asked, 'What possessed her?',
She said 'Goody Proctor',
To spite good John Proctor; naught saved 'em.
Which Arthur Miller play is summarised here? Hint

The Crucible

The Revenger's Tragedy

The Retort

The Knight of the Burning Pestle

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. There was a plain writer from Haworth,
Wrote of Janes plain for all she was w-worth.
They all burned with passion,
'Twas quite a new fashion.
She married and died in child-b-birth.
Which of the Bronte family is here described? Hint

Charlotte

Anne

Emily

Branwell

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Most Recent Scores

Dec 15 2024 : Lord_Digby: 8/10
Nov 20 2024 : Coromom: 9/10
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Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. There was a young man of Verona Saw Rosaline and wanted to own her. She said "Nothing doing", So he fell for her cousin But feuds, potions, daggers have blown her. Who is the Shakespearean hero described?

Answer: Romeo

Romeo had already fallen for a Capulet (Rosaline) across the divide of the family feud. He just looked for trouble. Juliet couldn't resist (like many a fourteen year olds).

2. There was a young lady from Hartfield, For matches, she always kept eyes peeled, But truth failed her mightily When Smith preferred Knightley And so her own heart was revealed. Who is Jane Austen's self-deceiving heroine?

Answer: Emma

Emma Woodhouse: I can't help a gentle laugh at Emma's expense. She is so much brighter than most of her dim acquaintances but still manages to be gloriously foolish.

3. There was a pretty young wit lived at Longbourn, Whose mother would grate on a saint born. She met a young man, So proud, rich and grand, "The last man on earth", made her lovelorn.

Answer: Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth is another bright girl who misjudges terribly. Still she admits her fault and marries the "last man on earth", for her happy ending. Both she and the book "Pride & Prejudice" demonstrate the power of charm. I start smiling as soon as I take the book from the shelf or pop in the video of the BBC miniseries.
Neither Jane nor Lydia could be described as witty, apart from not fitting the other clues.

4. There was a young man from Derbyshire, Who saw some "fine eyes" in Hertfordshire, He said 'she's a cracker, I'll have to unwrap her', Though her connections and fortunes are so dire. Who is the proud hero?

Answer: Darcy

We had to have Darcy to keep Elizabeth company. Colin Firth made a really good job of showing the workings of his pride holding him back from loving Elizabeth and also of his conversion, triggered from the shock of her hard hitting rejection, when he did succumb to her "fine eyes" for the first time.

5. There was a Miss Brooke, ideals to the core, Who married a scholarly terrible bore. His key was outdated, Her goodliness sated, She now is entwined with Will Ladislaw. Name the book, parodied here.

Answer: Middlemarch

Middlemarch is a truly multi-threaded novel. There are about five plots which fit together wonderfully making this a diverse picture of country society in the nineteenth century. Dorothea Brooke and her ill-starred marriage to dull Edward Casaubon is just one thread. Luckily he dies, so an unsullied heroine may find happiness with her second choice.
The other choices are other George Eliot novels; all worth a read.

6. There was a black general, you might know, Whose self-doubt quite wracked him and more so. That twisted Iago's Inverted farragos, He swallowed, the lot, took a pillow, dot dot, titwillow, titwillow, titwillow. Who is this subject of Shakespeare's tragedy?

Answer: Othello

I think it is self doubt rather than jealousy that works upon Othello. He couldn't believe his luck when young and beautiful and white Desdemona hung upon his tales of war. So he was liable to believe that his luck hadn't lasted, when Iago works on his insecurity.
Why is Iago so bitter? He's white and only an ensign and he doesn't value his wife Emilia and hankers after Desdemona. But mainly he's just thoroughly bad. The sixteenth century allowed villains to exist without apology or too much psychoanalysis.

7. There was a young prince from Elsinore, Who couldn't sleep easy, let alone snore. His father's old ghost Warned of Claudius no boast. He went mad, very sad and now's no more. Name the this archetypical tragic hero?

Answer: Hamlet

Hamlet for all his fits and starts is rounded psychologically. His only intentional action, to have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern put to death, happens at second hand so it is easy to forget that he is not purely passive. It is just that his real targets, his mother Gertrude, and his uncle Claudius, are difficult ones, being the rulers of Denmark.

But by the last, he has triggered the deaths of all (Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes, Claudius & Gertrude). "The rest is silence."

8. There was a young girl, washed t'Illyria, Who went as a boy to woo 'Livia. But her heart made her say no, As she loved Duke Orsino. Of all plots, there aren't many sillier. Who is the heroine of Shakespeare's seasonal offering?

Answer: Viola

"Twelfth Night" is the owner of this ludicrous plot. I love every minute of this play as the contortions of missing twins, ruses and hokum reach a crescendo in the unmasking of Cesario (Viola) and the realisation that her twin Sebastian has wed Olivia.

9. There was a young minx lived in Salem, Who trumped up witch charges to nail 'em. When asked, 'What possessed her?', She said 'Goody Proctor', To spite good John Proctor; naught saved 'em. Which Arthur Miller play is summarised here?

Answer: The Crucible

"The Crucible" was meant to point up how a war of whispers, which dominated the McCarthy communist witch-hunts, can destroy the innocent. The recent film "Good Night and Good Luck" portrays this time in US history brilliantly.

10. There was a plain writer from Haworth, Wrote of Janes plain for all she was w-worth. They all burned with passion, 'Twas quite a new fashion. She married and died in child-b-birth. Which of the Bronte family is here described?

Answer: Charlotte

Branwell was Charlotte's brother so is easily rejected. He died of drink and drug abuse. Emily and Anne died spinsters of consumption (tuberculosis), due to the family tendency but aggravated by their insanitary home, Haworth parsonage. It was plain Charlotte who wed and was briefly happy before complications with child-birth finished her. Elizabeth Gaskell wrote a "Life" of Charlotte soon after her death.

Source: Author jeremyb

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