Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Aggressive

Aloof

Regretful
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Supposedly

Therefore

On top of

Right after
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
Paradise Lost

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore

The parables of Jesus
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated

As sluggish and weary

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

People in charge of institutions

Comforting narratives

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

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

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row
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?
ABBACDDCEFFE

AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

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

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a soldier

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

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To become a banker or schoolteacher
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
The Tower

In the Seven Woods

The Winding Stair

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

A poet

A very old person

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

A sick person

An artist

A member of the clergy
15 When was this poem published?
1914

1921

1900

1903
16 When does the work take place?
The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon

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 writing poetry

The art of reading the Bible

The art of understanding nature

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?
Understatement

Personification

Synecdoche

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

A dream that has been forgotten

Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The speaker

The addressee

The friend

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

Sewing

Childbearing

Hunting
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

Poetry

Physical beauty

Childhood
25 What does the moon symbolize?
The light and redemption found in dark times

The eternal beauty of nature

The speaker's cynicism about love

The omnipresence of the divine

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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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