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American Masters Trivia Quiz

Here's a look at some American originals in a variety of fields.

A multiple-choice quiz by robert362. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
robert362

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
81,600

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
743

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Perhaps no one qualifies as an "American original" more than the wildly imaginative and horribly tormented Edgar Allan Poe. Which is NOT one of his short stories? Hint

The Pit and the Pendulum

Shadow - A Parable

The Secret Sharer

A Descent in the Maelstrom

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Question 2 of 10

2. It is rare when it can accurately be said that one writer represented a particular era in American History. Yet, one writer (through both his writings and his life style) epitomized the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Who was he? Hint

Theodore Dreiser

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Henry James

Thomas Wolfe

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Question 3 of 10

3. Henry David Thoreau is a legendary American figure, largely due to his famous "experiment" at Walden Pond. How long (approximately) did Thoreau live there? Hint

2 Years

4 Years

1 Year

3 Years

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Question 4 of 10

4. The beauty of the Western frontier was not lost on American artists. Which man is known largely for his artistic pictures of the nineteenth century American West? Hint

Gilbert Stuart

Fredric Remington

Grant Wood

Norman Rockwell

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Question 5 of 10

5. Even more than our national anthem, no song is more closely asssociated with the United States than "America, the Beautiful". Who was the composer? Hint

Samuel Ward

Stephen Foster

Francis Scott Key

Irving Berlin

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Question 6 of 10

6. Eugene O'Neill is undoubtedly America's foremost dramatist. His masterpiece, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", depicts all of the following aspects of his life EXCEPT which of these? Hint

His brother's dissolute life of liquor and prostitutes

His father's "sell-out" of his artistic career for financial success

His sister's problems with emotional and intellectual handicaps

His mother's problems with drug addiction

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Question 7 of 10

7. Arthur Miller occupies a place in American drama that is second only to O'Neill. Which of his plays is a veiled reference to the communist "witch hunts" of his own McCarthy era?
Hint

The Price

A View From The Bridge

Incident at Vichy

The Crucible

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Question 8 of 10

8. Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage" is a classic about the horror of warfare. It is not, however, Crane's only work. Which of the following is one of his? Hint

Tender is the Night

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

As I Lay Dying

The Rocking Horse Winner

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Question 9 of 10

9. Jack London led a colorful life of action and adventure. His masterpeice is "The Call of the Wild". What was the name of the dog in the novel that had to answer that "call"? Hint

King

Fang

Yukon

Buck

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Question 10 of 10

10. It seems appropriate to take note of the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize for literature. Who was it? Hint

John Steinbeck

Ernest Hemingway

Sinclair Lewis

William Faulkner

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Perhaps no one qualifies as an "American original" more than the wildly imaginative and horribly tormented Edgar Allan Poe. Which is NOT one of his short stories?

Answer: The Secret Sharer

Poor, tragic Poe. His short life was filled with many problems: death of loved ones, poverty, substance abuse, lack of recognition, etc. His creativity, however, cannot be denied. "Shadow" and "Descent" were early works. "Seceret" is by Joseph Conrad.

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Scott and Zelda were representative of the wild times in which they lived. The party didn't last, however. Zelda was institutionalized, Scott drank himself into ill health and short life, and the USA's party ended with the Great Depression. (The others, of course, were also great American writers.)

3. Henry David Thoreau is a legendary American figure, largely due to his famous "experiment" at Walden Pond. How long (approximately) did Thoreau live there?

Answer: 2 Years

Another short life. Thoreau enjoyed a strong friendship with Emerson for much of his life; he also suffered the loss of a brother (by tetanus) and a sister (by the sam t.b. that would later claim him.)

4. The beauty of the Western frontier was not lost on American artists. Which man is known largely for his artistic pictures of the nineteenth century American West?

Answer: Fredric Remington

All are American artists, but it is Remington who is famed for his artistic capturing of the natural frontier beauty of the American West.

5. Even more than our national anthem, no song is more closely asssociated with the United States than "America, the Beautiful". Who was the composer?

Answer: Samuel Ward

Key, of course, penned "The Star Spangled Banner". Foster did songs such as "Swanee". Berlin is a legend. But, it was Samuel Ward who composed the melody for "America, the Beautiful"; it was later combined with a poem by Katherine Lee Bates.

6. Eugene O'Neill is undoubtedly America's foremost dramatist. His masterpiece, "Long Day's Journey Into Night", depicts all of the following aspects of his life EXCEPT which of these?

Answer: His sister's problems with emotional and intellectual handicaps

At his request, this play by O'Neill was produced posthumously for the first time due to its painful, autobiographical nature. His father sacrificed his artistic potential for the financial rewards earned by continually playing Edmund Dantes in "The Count of Monte Cristo". O'Neill's mother struggled with drug addiction - largely brought on by the drugs that she received to ease the pain of O'Neill's birth.

His brother led a profligate life that went nowhere. There was no sister. (This comment is more appropriate to Tennessee Williams experience with his sister, Rosalie, as is somewhat represented in "The Glass Menagerie".)

7. Arthur Miller occupies a place in American drama that is second only to O'Neill. Which of his plays is a veiled reference to the communist "witch hunts" of his own McCarthy era?

Answer: The Crucible

All are Miller works. "Crucible", though set in the Puritan New England of centuries earlier was also applicable to a different brand of "witch hunt". "All My Sons" and "Death of a Salesman" are, of course, his best known works.

8. Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage" is a classic about the horror of warfare. It is not, however, Crane's only work. Which of the following is one of his?

Answer: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

There's a rule that says that one should write from one's own experience. "Courage" broke that rule: it was not taken from Crane's combat experiences. A short life here, too. "Horse" is by D.H. Lawrence. "Night" is by Fitzgerald. "Dying" is by Faulkner.

9. Jack London led a colorful life of action and adventure. His masterpeice is "The Call of the Wild". What was the name of the dog in the novel that had to answer that "call"?

Answer: Buck

"White Fang" was the other well-known novel by London, who wandered in Alaska (and other places). He didn't care for "Fang", however: he derided it as "the call of the tamed".

10. It seems appropriate to take note of the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize for literature. Who was it?

Answer: Sinclair Lewis

A satirist of sorts, Lewis scored with works such as "Main Street", Arrowsmith", "Dodsworth" and "Babbitt". The others had equally fine careers.

Source: Author robert362

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