Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Aloof

Regretful

Gleeful

Aggressive
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

Right after

Supposedly

On top of

Therefore
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

The parables of Jesus

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore

Paradise Lost
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?

As fiery and opinionated

As clever and critical

As sluggish and weary

As beautiful and kind
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?

Prior examples

Comforting narratives

People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?

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

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

Augusta Gregory

Maud Gonne

W.B. Yeats

Georgiana Hyde-Lees
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

ABBACDDCEFFE
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a mother

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

Iambic hexameter

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

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

In the Seven Woods

The Winding Stair

The Tower

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

A poor person

A poet

A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person
14 What does the word "idler" mean?

An artist

A lazy person

A sick person

A member of the clergy
15 When was this poem published?

1900

1921

1914

1903
16 When does the work take place?

Early spring

Christmas afternoon

A summer evening

The middle of the night
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?

Wealthy

Physically far from the ground

Elevated

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

The art of writing poetry

The art of reading the Bible

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of understanding nature
19 The line "I had a thought for no one’s but your ears" contains which device?

Metonymy

Personification

Understatement

Synecdoche
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Drops of water from a fountain

A dream that has been forgotten

The embers of a fire

Coins in a pocket
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?

Childbearing

Sewing

Hunting

Farming
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?

It is a sonnet

It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is written in the second person
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?

Love

Physical beauty

Childhood

Poetry
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The eternal beauty of nature

The light and redemption found in dark times

The omnipresence of the divine

The speaker's cynicism about love

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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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