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Sylvia Plath Quotations Trivia Quiz

Simply complete these quotations from Plath poems. If you enjoy this quiz, please take my similar Dickinson quiz.

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

Author
BlueCanary

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
189,492

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
507

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. "There would be a nobility then, there would be a birthday.
And the knife not carve, but enter

Pure and clean as the cry of a baby,
And the _____ slide from my side."
Hint

darkness

world

universe

blood

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. "The black bull ____ before the sea.
The sea, till that day orderly,
Hove up against Bendylaw."

Hint

snorted

bellowed

grunted

hollared

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. "Day now, night now, at head, side, feet,
They stand their vigil in gowns of stone,
Faces blank as the day I was born,
Their ______ long in the setting sun
That never brightens or goes down."
Hint

faces

shadows

smiles

frowns

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. "...Then I was seeing
A melding of shapes in a hot rain:
Horses warped on the altering green,

Outlandish as double-humped camels or ______"

Hint

jabberwocks

wyverns

centaurs

unicorns

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. "Old man, you _____ seldom.
Then you come in with the tide's coming
When seas wash cold, foam- "

Hint

materialize

appear

surface

come up

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. "Little poppies, little hell flames,
Do you do no harm?

You flicker. I cannot ____ you.
I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns."

Hint

feel

catch

touch

seize

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. "As the gods began one world, and man another,
So the snakecharmer begins a snaky sphere
With moon-eye, mouth-pipe. He pipes. Pipes green. Pipes ____."

Hint

light

earth

water

scales

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. "He smoldered, as if stone-deaf, blindfold,
His body beached with the sea's _____,
A machine to breathe and beat forever. "
Hint

garbage

flotsam

rubbish

jetsam

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. "Hands moving move priestlier
Than priest's hands, invoke no vain
Images of light and ____
But sure stations in bronze, wood, stone."

Hint

foam

cloud

air

dream

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. "Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the ____."

Hint

air

ground

sky

earth

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "There would be a nobility then, there would be a birthday. And the knife not carve, but enter Pure and clean as the cry of a baby, And the _____ slide from my side."

Answer: universe

This quotation is the end of "A Birthday Present," which poem puts a unique slant on the concept of death.

2. "The black bull ____ before the sea. The sea, till that day orderly, Hove up against Bendylaw."

Answer: bellowed

This is the opening stanza to "The Bull of Bendylaw."

3. "Day now, night now, at head, side, feet, They stand their vigil in gowns of stone, Faces blank as the day I was born, Their ______ long in the setting sun That never brightens or goes down."

Answer: shadows

This quotation comes from the final stanza of "The Disquieting Muses", a poem which uses some very disturbing imagery in the expression of what it's like to live with depression.

4. "...Then I was seeing A melding of shapes in a hot rain: Horses warped on the altering green, Outlandish as double-humped camels or ______"

Answer: unicorns

This is a selection from "The Eye-Mote", another description of depression, this time of the onslaught as well as the continued suffering.

5. "Old man, you _____ seldom. Then you come in with the tide's coming When seas wash cold, foam- "

Answer: surface

This is the first stanza of "Full Fathom Five", an intriguing personification of the sea.

6. "Little poppies, little hell flames, Do you do no harm? You flicker. I cannot ____ you. I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns."

Answer: touch

These are the first two stanzas of "Poppies in July". Both this poem and her other, "Poppies in October", characterize poppies in very different ways.

7. "As the gods began one world, and man another, So the snakecharmer begins a snaky sphere With moon-eye, mouth-pipe. He pipes. Pipes green. Pipes ____."

Answer: water

The opening lines to "Snakecharmer", a whimsical and haunting portrait of the act of creation.

8. "He smoldered, as if stone-deaf, blindfold, His body beached with the sea's _____, A machine to breathe and beat forever. "

Answer: garbage

I expect that is the hardest question in this quiz.
The quotation is from "Suicide off Egg Rock", yet another depression-inspired poem. This particular work is also interesting, however, for how closely it echoes a beach scene in Plath's semi-autobiographical novel "The Bell Jar".

9. "Hands moving move priestlier Than priest's hands, invoke no vain Images of light and ____ But sure stations in bronze, wood, stone."

Answer: air

This is the second stanza of "Sculptor", a poem which describes the act of creation, especially that of art.

10. "Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the ____."

Answer: air

These are the opening stanzas of "Mushrooms", which creates a metaphor for the expansion of the human population of earth, displaying foremost the characteristics of dermination and hardiness.

Source: Author BlueCanary

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