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Tonight We Dream In Poems Trivia Quiz

Whoa. What a curious dream. I'm sitting in this unfamiliar, grand dining room with settings for 12. In walk ten individuals, some I recognize and some I don't. They begin to talk in verse. I take a seat and invite you to join me...

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

Author
themats

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
213,863

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
530

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. The lady to my right and a few seats down is young and pretty. "Excuse me," I ask, "but would you mind passing the carrots?"

"'Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.'"

"Geez, lady. Nevermind. I just wanted the carrots." Maybe you will have better luck. What is her name? Hint

Hilda Doolittle

Anne Sexton

Sylvia Plath

Dorothy Parker

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. At the far end of the table a quaint old man appears to be staring at his watch and muttering something about "'St. Mary Woolnoth.'" "Sir, I see that you're staring at your watch. Would you be so kind as to tell me the time?"

"'Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.'"

"I guess that would be about 11:15, huh?" Why don't you try asking him his name? Hint

Robert Frost

Ezra Pound

T.S. Eliot

Carl Sandburg

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. The knowing gentlemen up the table looks familiar. "Excuse me, have we met?"

"'The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.'"

"Pardon me. I may have misheard you."

"'What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?'"

"I thought so. Say, aren't you...?" Hint

Calvin Forbes

Ralph Ellison

Richard Hayden

Langston Hughes

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. This is embarassing. The gentlemen on my immediate left has fallen asleep. "Sir. Sir. Is everything Ok? You're snor..."

"'Your thighs are appletrees
whose blossoms touch the sky.
Which sky? The sky
where Watteau hung a lady's
slipper. Your knees
are a southern breeze-or
a gust of snow. Agh! what
sort of man was Fragonard?'"

"My friend, that was T.M.I., too much information." Who was that guy? Hint

Hart Crane

Robert Lowell

Charles Olson

William Carlos William

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. This is getting stranger by the second. Perhaps a little wine to relax. "Dear friend, could I trouble you to pass me the wine?"

"'Sometimes you hear, fifth-hand,
As epitaph:
He chucked up everything
And just cleared off,
And always the voice will sound
Certain you approve
This audacious, purifying,
Elemental move.'"

"That's ok, my friend. Sounds like you need it more than me." Perhaps he'll pass you the bottle. Hint

John Betjeman

Philip Larkin

W. B. Yeats

Ted Hughes

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. Although I'm strangely fascinated, it's not clear why we're here or what we're to do. "Pardon me," I ask the man to my right, "Do you know why we're here?"

"'Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.'"

"Really? A simple 'I have no idea' would have sufficed." Who is talking about their concupiscent curds? Hint

Wallace Stevens

James Merrill

Donald Justice

Randall Jarrell

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Why me? All of this and now the guy a few seats up on the right has dipped his beard in his soup. "Excuse me sir, but I see that your beard is in your soup."

"'America this is quite serious.
America this is the impression I get from looking in
the television set.
America is this correct?
I'd better get right down to the job.
It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes
in precision parts factories, I'm nearsighted and
psychopathic anyway.
America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.'"

"Sure. That's cool and all. But your beard!" Can you hand him a napkin? Hint

Gregory Corso

William S. Burroughs

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. There's a pleasant young lady sitting next to the man with his beard in his soup. "Pardon me. Would you mind loaning your napkin to the man with the soupy beard?"

"'I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!'"

"Forget it" I said as I threw my napkin at soup-face, but mistakenly hit the pleasant young lady. Who was hit by the napkin? Hint

Marianne Moore

Emily Dickinson

Hilda Doolittle

Gertrude Stein

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. You start to get up and leave. Not that I blame you, but I don't want to be left alone. "Hey" I shout to the guy sitting next to you, "don't let 'em leave."

"'I was trotting along and suddenly
it started raining and snowing
and you said it was hailing
but hailing hits you on the head
hard so it was really snowing and
raining and I was in such a hurry
to meet you but the traffic
was acting exactly like the sky
and suddenly I see a headline
LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!'"

"Lana? I wanted you to grab the person that just left the room." Who made it easy for you to escape my dream?
Hint

Dylan Thomas

Frank O'Hara

Kenneth Koch

John Ashbery

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. I'm getting tired. No wine, no carrots and I can't get a straight answer from anyone. I now notice the rain against the window pane. "It's raining," I state to no one in particular.

"'(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.'"

"Thank you. That was beautiful." As I begin to wake and the figures dissipate, I wonder who that was... Hint

Walt Whitman

ee cummings

Theodore Roethke

W.H. Auden

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The lady to my right and a few seats down is young and pretty. "Excuse me," I ask, "but would you mind passing the carrots?" "'Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware Beware. Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air.'" "Geez, lady. Nevermind. I just wanted the carrots." Maybe you will have better luck. What is her name?

Answer: Sylvia Plath

"Lady Lazarus" is found in a number of modern poetry anthologies and can be found in Plath's "Ariel." Plath is known for her confessional writing. She took a course with Robert Lowell who fostered the confessional movement.

2. At the far end of the table a quaint old man appears to be staring at his watch and muttering something about "'St. Mary Woolnoth.'" "Sir, I see that you're staring at your watch. Would you be so kind as to tell me the time?" "'Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea.'" "I guess that would be about 11:15, huh?" Why don't you try asking him his name?

Answer: T.S. Eliot

Eliot was born in St. Louis, but would spend much of his life in England where he became a British subject in 1927. In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The "St. Mary Woolnoth" reference is from "The Wasteland" while the passage is from "The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock."

3. The knowing gentlemen up the table looks familiar. "Excuse me, have we met?" "'The calm, Cool face of the river Asked me for a kiss.'" "Pardon me. I may have misheard you." "'What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun?'" "I thought so. Say, aren't you...?"

Answer: Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an amazing talent. The first exerpt is "Suicide's Note" in its entirity. Only 12 simple words that provide so much imagery. The second verse is from "Dream Deferred." Lorraine Hansberry used this line for her 1959 play, "A Raisin In The Sun."

4. This is embarassing. The gentlemen on my immediate left has fallen asleep. "Sir. Sir. Is everything Ok? You're snor..." "'Your thighs are appletrees whose blossoms touch the sky. Which sky? The sky where Watteau hung a lady's slipper. Your knees are a southern breeze-or a gust of snow. Agh! what sort of man was Fragonard?'" "My friend, that was T.M.I., too much information." Who was that guy?

Answer: William Carlos William

"Portrait Of A Lady" is one of Williams' most anthologized works. Williams is often described as an imagist and coined the phrase "No ideas but in things." A friend of Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolittle, Williams died in 1963.

5. This is getting stranger by the second. Perhaps a little wine to relax. "Dear friend, could I trouble you to pass me the wine?" "'Sometimes you hear, fifth-hand, As epitaph: He chucked up everything And just cleared off, And always the voice will sound Certain you approve This audacious, purifying, Elemental move.'" "That's ok, my friend. Sounds like you need it more than me." Perhaps he'll pass you the bottle.

Answer: Philip Larkin

"Poetry Of Departures" is where one will find the passage. Larkin worked most of his life as a university librarian. He is a noted jazz critic and declined the Poet Laureteship.

6. Although I'm strangely fascinated, it's not clear why we're here or what we're to do. "Pardon me," I ask the man to my right, "Do you know why we're here?" "'Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds. Let the wenches dawdle in such dress As they are used to wear, and let the boys Bring flowers in last month's newspapers. Let be be finale of seem.'" "Really? A simple 'I have no idea' would have sufficed." Who is talking about their concupiscent curds?

Answer: Wallace Stevens

"The Emperor Of Ice Cream" is a lively and musical poem. Stevens attended Harvard and later became a bonding lawyer for an insurance firm.

7. Why me? All of this and now the guy a few seats up on the right has dipped his beard in his soup. "Excuse me sir, but I see that your beard is in your soup." "'America this is quite serious. America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set. America is this correct? I'd better get right down to the job. It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts factories, I'm nearsighted and psychopathic anyway. America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.'" "Sure. That's cool and all. But your beard!" Can you hand him a napkin?

Answer: Allen Ginsberg

"America" is classic Ginsberg. "Howl" is his most famous poem and helped to identify him as a beat poet.

8. There's a pleasant young lady sitting next to the man with his beard in his soup. "Pardon me. Would you mind loaning your napkin to the man with the soupy beard?" "'I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you - Nobody - too? Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!'" "Forget it" I said as I threw my napkin at soup-face, but mistakenly hit the pleasant young lady. Who was hit by the napkin?

Answer: Emily Dickinson

The dashes usually give Emily Dickinson away and "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?" is no different. Dickinson's life is a bit of a mystery and at the time of her death only ten (of nearly 1800) of her poems had been published.

9. You start to get up and leave. Not that I blame you, but I don't want to be left alone. "Hey" I shout to the guy sitting next to you, "don't let 'em leave." "'I was trotting along and suddenly it started raining and snowing and you said it was hailing but hailing hits you on the head hard so it was really snowing and raining and I was in such a hurry to meet you but the traffic was acting exactly like the sky and suddenly I see a headline LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!'" "Lana? I wanted you to grab the person that just left the room." Who made it easy for you to escape my dream?

Answer: Frank O'Hara

My guess is that Jerry Seinfeld would appreciate O'Hara's "Poem" and how small, insignificant things are suddenly important. O'Hara is another graduate of Harvard and became part of the New York School of poetry along with Kenneth Koch. He died in a freak accident in 1966 when he was run over by a dune buggy.

10. I'm getting tired. No wine, no carrots and I can't get a straight answer from anyone. I now notice the rain against the window pane. "It's raining," I state to no one in particular. "'(i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.'" "Thank you. That was beautiful." As I begin to wake and the figures dissipate, I wonder who that was...

Answer: ee cummings

"somewhere I have never travelled..." is mentioned in Woody Allen's "Hannah And Her Sisters." Edward Estlin Cummings received a Master's from Harvard in English and Classic Studies. cummings is also a recognized painter.

Source: Author themats

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