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O for a draught of Keats! Trivia Quiz

A quiz on the poetry of John Keats.

A multiple-choice quiz by psxman40. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
psxman40

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
187,188

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
8 / 15

Plays
583

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. This sonnet sparked Keats's literary fame in 1816. Hint

When I have fears that I may cease to be

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

On Seeing the Elgin Marbles

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art

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Question 2 of 15

2. Keats wrote many Odes. In "Ode on Melancholy," Keats encourages the reader (or, perhaps, himself) to "go not" to which river from classical mythology? Hint

Acheron

Alpheus

Styx

Lethe

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Question 3 of 15

3. To/on which of these did Keats NOT write an ode? Hint

Indolence

Psyche

May

Sleep

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Question 4 of 15

4. In an ode to/on this, Keats writes: "What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape / Of deities or mortals, or of both, / In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?" Hint

Psyche

A Grecian Urn

Indolence

Nightingale

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Question 5 of 15

5. This ode is prefaced with this passage from Scripture: "They toil not, neither do they spin". Hint

Ode on Melancholy

Ode to Psyche

Ode on Indolence

Ode on a Grecian Urn

6. In this ode, from which this quiz derives its title, Keats writes the following lines: "Darkling I listen; and, for many a time / I have been half in love with easful Death, / Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, / To take into the air my quiet breath; / Now more than ever seems it rich to die,..." Hint

Ode on Indolence

Ode on Melancholy

Ode to a Nightingale

Ode on a Grecian Urn

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Question 7 of 15

7. Which is said to be Keats's last sonnet? Hint

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art

On Seeing the Elgin Marbles

After dark vapours have oppress'd our plains

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Question 8 of 15

8. Keats wrote some longer poems too. This one tells the tale of a mortal searching for an immortal goddess whom he has seen in several visions. Hint

Lamia

Endymion

The Eve of St. Agnes

Hyperion

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Question 9 of 15

9. In this longer poem, the subject encounters Saturn in his shrine. Hint

Endymion

The Eve of St. Agnes

Lamia

The Fall of Hyperion

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Question 10 of 15

10. "The Eve of St. Agnes" is written as a sequence of stanzas. Who created this stanza form? Hint

William Shakespeare

Edmund Spenser

Sir Philip Sydney

Keats created his own form

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Question 11 of 15

11. While on the subject, who is St. Agnes? Hint

the patron saint of virgins

the patron saint of marriage

the patron saint of poets

the patron saint of beauty

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Question 12 of 15

12. Keats wrote a sonnet to this famous poet, in which he wrote: "Standing aloof in giant ignorance, / Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades, / As one who sits ashore and longs perchance / To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas". Hint

Shakespeare

Virgil

Chaucer

Homer

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Question 13 of 15

13. Keats wrote many letters in addition to poetry. To whom in particular did he write many love letters? Hint

Lucy Gray

Mary Shelley

Georgiana Keats

Fanny Brawne

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Question 14 of 15

14. In what poem does a wanton woman entrance a "woebegone" knight with her beauty and playfulness, only to lead him into a despairing state of solitude. Hint

Lamia

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

The Eve of St. Agnes

The Fall of Hyperion

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Question 15 of 15

15. Befitting of a final question, unless it's already come upon you, this poem ends, "Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards, / And seal the hushed casket of my soul." Hint

Ode on Melancholy

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Sonnet to Sleep

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This sonnet sparked Keats's literary fame in 1816.

Answer: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

The last four lines of this poem contains an error, though an error made in favor of a better sounding line: "Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes / He star'd at the Pacific--and all his men / Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-- / Silent, upon a peak in Darien." (It was Balboa who stood on Darien and stared at the Pacific, but "Cortez" carries better that sense of conquering ferocity necessary to a "stout" stature with "eagle eyes" ;) ).

2. Keats wrote many Odes. In "Ode on Melancholy," Keats encourages the reader (or, perhaps, himself) to "go not" to which river from classical mythology?

Answer: Lethe

The souls of the dead drank from these waters to forget their earthly lives. Talk about "drowning your sorrows"...

3. To/on which of these did Keats NOT write an ode?

Answer: Sleep

Keats wrote a sonnet to Sleep, not an ode. He wrote odes on/to the other three.

4. In an ode to/on this, Keats writes: "What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape / Of deities or mortals, or of both, / In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?"

Answer: A Grecian Urn

This poem was a favorite of the so-called "New Critics" of the "New Criticism" school of literary theory in the early twentieth century. It led Cleanth Brooks to say, "I'd kill my aunt Tilly to be able to write 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'!" (note: new criticism seeks to move away from the overemphasis on finding the moral meaning in a work, endeavoring instead to appreciate the work in-and-of-itself.

Hence Brooks's statement). Or so our lit professor told us.

5. This ode is prefaced with this passage from Scripture: "They toil not, neither do they spin".

Answer: Ode on Indolence

From Matt. 6.28 (KJV).

Answer: Ode to a Nightingale

This poem also inspired the title of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, within the line: "Tender is the night, and haply the Queen moon is on her throne..."

7. Which is said to be Keats's last sonnet?

Answer: Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art

According to the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Keats copied this sonnet into his volume of Shakespeare while travelling to Italy in late 1820, where he wrote no poetry and died shortly after in February, 1821. Keats's birthday being Oct. 31, 1795, Keats died at the young age of 25. (Note: and he only began writing seriously at the age of 21!)

8. Keats wrote some longer poems too. This one tells the tale of a mortal searching for an immortal goddess whom he has seen in several visions.

Answer: Endymion

Keats was apparently not very proud of his 4,000-line achievement; he prefaces the poem: "Knowing within myself the manner in which this Poem has been produced, it is not without a feeling of regret that I make it public." He goes on to debunk the amateur style in which he feels he wrote the poem.

9. In this longer poem, the subject encounters Saturn in his shrine.

Answer: The Fall of Hyperion

Saturn, as you know, is the Roman equivalent of Hyperion and, thus, one of the Titans.

10. "The Eve of St. Agnes" is written as a sequence of stanzas. Who created this stanza form?

Answer: Edmund Spenser

The form is as follows: ababbcbcb, with the last line forming an Alexandrine (12 syllables instead of 10). Spencer used this form to compose the Faerie Queene. (note: this question has been corrected. apologies to those who got it incorrect due the incorrect information).

11. While on the subject, who is St. Agnes?

Answer: the patron saint of virgins

St. Agnes was martyred ca. 303 at the age of thirteen. The tradition is for a chaste young woman to perform the proper ritual, and she will accordingly dream of her husband on the evening before St. Agnes day, January 21.

Answer: Homer

The "Cyclades" should narrow it down to Virgil and Homer. Then you just have to know ;).

13. Keats wrote many letters in addition to poetry. To whom in particular did he write many love letters?

Answer: Fanny Brawne

Fanny was Keats' fiancee, but his sickness and poverty prevented their engagement from ever coming to fruition.

14. In what poem does a wanton woman entrance a "woebegone" knight with her beauty and playfulness, only to lead him into a despairing state of solitude.

Answer: La Belle Dame Sans Merci

It is technically a "ballad".

15. Befitting of a final question, unless it's already come upon you, this poem ends, "Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards, / And seal the hushed casket of my soul."

Answer: Sonnet to Sleep

Good night.

Source: Author psxman40

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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