Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Gleeful

Aloof

Aggressive
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Right after

Therefore

On top of

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 beautiful and kind

As sluggish and weary

As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
Underlying principles

Comforting narratives

People in charge of institutions

Prior examples
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?
It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

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

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of a single forty-line stanza
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?
Georgiana Hyde-Lees

W.B. Yeats

Maud Gonne

Augusta Gregory
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABBACDDCEFFE

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

The speaker is a soldier

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a mother
10 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
In the Seven Woods

The Tower

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person

A poor person

A poet
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
An artist

A lazy person

A member of the clergy

A sick person
15 When was this poem published?
1914

1903

1900

1921
16 When does the work take place?
Christmas afternoon

The middle of the night

Early spring

A summer evening
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?
Physically far from the ground

Elevated

Intoxicated

Wealthy
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?
The art of writing poetry

The art of understanding nature

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible
19 The line "I had a thought for no one’s but your ears" contains which device?
Understatement

Metonymy

Personification

Synecdoche
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?
The embers of a fire

Coins in a pocket

Drops of water from a fountain

A dream that has been forgotten
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The speaker

The friend

The addressee

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 written in the second person

It is a sonnet

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?
Physical beauty

Childhood

Love

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

The eternal beauty of nature

The omnipresence of the divine

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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