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Poetry and Writers Trivia Quiz

Multiple choice, about poetry, books, and the writers. Some are easy, and some may be hard.

A multiple-choice quiz by bluenose. Estimated time: 3 mins.

Author
bluenose

Time
3 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
45,996

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
766

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Who wrote the 'Journey of The Magi'? Hint

Walt Whitman

E. E. Cummings

Rudyard Kipling

T. S. Eliot

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Question 2 of 10

2. The poem, by E. E. Cummings, 'O Sweet Spontaneous Earth' began with which first line? Hint

O sweet spontaneous

To be or not to be sweet

Earth, sweet as honey

O mel, et bella puella

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Question 3 of 10

3. Where was the poet George Santayana born? Hint

New York

Boston

Mexico City

Madrid

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Question 4 of 10

4. Who wrote the words: 'The ribs and terrors in the whale.'? Hint

Shakespeare

Herman Melville

Rupert Brooke

Joe Namath

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which poet, born at Rugby, wrote the poem 'The Great Lover'? Hint

Aristotle

Radar O'Reilly

Rupert Brooke

Brooke Roberts

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Question 6 of 10

6. What was e. e. cummings accomplished at, besides poetry and writing? Hint

playing electric guitar

painting

Web designing

hockey

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Question 7 of 10

7. What did Alfred Tennyson die of? Hint

car crash

influenza

a lightning strike

fall from a horse

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Question 8 of 10

8. Who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1982 for, 'The Collected Poems'? Hint

Elizabeth Bishop

Sylvia Plath

Sara Teasdale

Jonny Carson

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Question 9 of 10

9. Who is the 'Father of English Poetry'? Hint

Geoffrey Chaucer

John Skelton

John Donne

Shakespeare

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Question 10 of 10

10. Who wrote the great play, 'Murder in The Cathedral', and wrote the poem 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock'? Hint

John Milton

T.S. Eliot

Daniel Jazz

Nellie Nash

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who wrote the 'Journey of The Magi'?

Answer: T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot went to Harvard, Oxford, and the Sorbonne.

2. The poem, by E. E. Cummings, 'O Sweet Spontaneous Earth' began with which first line?

Answer: O sweet spontaneous

One of the incorrect answers is my feeble attempt at Latin. E.E. was born in Cambridge, Massachusettes. He was once called 'the bad boy of American poetry'.

3. Where was the poet George Santayana born?

Answer: Madrid

George taught philosophy at Harvard. One of his students was T. S. Eliot.

4. Who wrote the words: 'The ribs and terrors in the whale.'?

Answer: Herman Melville

Herman was a sailor, and once jumped ship to live among South Sea cannibals.

5. Which poet, born at Rugby, wrote the poem 'The Great Lover'?

Answer: Rupert Brooke

'These I have loved: White plates and cups, clean gleaming, Ringed with blue lines:', were a couple of lines from the poem. In the T.V. series M.A.S.H., Radar was reading some lines from Rupert's poetry to impress a nurse.

6. What was e. e. cummings accomplished at, besides poetry and writing?

Answer: painting

His visual effects in his poetry may be explained by the fact that he was a painter.

7. What did Alfred Tennyson die of?

Answer: influenza

He was 83 years old when he died on October 6, 1892.

8. Who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1982 for, 'The Collected Poems'?

Answer: Sylvia Plath

Elizabeth Bishop won in 1956. Sara Teasdale, in 1918, was the first winner of the 'Prize'.

9. Who is the 'Father of English Poetry'?

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

A monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey in 1555. I know this was an easy question for fanatics of poetry, but I don't want to shut anyone out.

10. Who wrote the great play, 'Murder in The Cathedral', and wrote the poem 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock'?

Answer: T.S. Eliot

'The Daniel Jazz' was a poem written by Vachel Lindsay. 'Daniel was the chief hired man of the land. He stirred up the jazz in the palace band'.

Source: Author bluenose

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