Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

1 Which of the following best describes the poem's tone?
Aggressive

Gleeful

Regretful

Aloof
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Therefore

On top of

Right after

Supposedly
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
The Book of Genesis

The parables of Jesus

Irish folklore

Paradise Lost
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As clever and critical

As sluggish and weary

As beautiful and kind

As fiery and opinionated
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles

Comforting narratives

Prior examples
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?
It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?
Maud Gonne

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

W.B. Yeats

Augusta Gregory
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

ABBACDDCEFFE

AABBCCDD
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?
The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a soldier
10 What is the poem's meter?
Trochaic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic pentameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To return to prelapsarian paradise

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
In the Seven Woods

The Tower

The Winding Stair

The Wanderings of Oisin
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A poet

A very old person

A poor person

A person who works in a kitchen
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
A lazy person

A member of the clergy

A sick person

An artist
15 When was this poem published?
1903

1900

1914

1921
16 When does the work take place?
Christmas afternoon

The middle of the night

A summer evening

Early spring
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?
Elevated

Physically far from the ground

Wealthy

Intoxicated
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?
The art of reading the Bible

The art of understanding nature

The art of writing poetry

The art of following norms of feminine beauty
19 The line "I had a thought for no one’s but your ears" contains which device?
Metonymy

Synecdoche

Personification

Understatement
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?
A dream that has been forgotten

The embers of a fire

Coins in a pocket

Drops of water from a fountain
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The friend

The addressee

The speaker

All of the above—the characters sit in silent reflection
22 The speaker compares poetry to which of the following?
Hunting

Farming

Sewing

Childbearing
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?
It is a sonnet

It is written in the second person

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It switches speakers several times
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?
Love

Physical beauty

Poetry

Childhood
25 What does the moon symbolize?
The speaker's cynicism about love

The omnipresence of the divine

The eternal beauty of nature

The light and redemption found in dark times

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Study Guide for Adam’s Curse

Adam's Curse study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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