Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Aloof

Gleeful

Aggressive
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

Right after

Therefore

Supposedly

On top of
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

The parables of Jesus

Paradise Lost

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?

As sluggish and weary

As fiery and opinionated

As beautiful and kind

As clever and critical
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?

Underlying principles

People in charge of institutions

Comforting narratives

Prior examples
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?

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

W.B. Yeats

Augusta Gregory

Maud Gonne
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 soldier

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a banker

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

Trochaic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter

Iambic pentameter
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 love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To return to prelapsarian paradise
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?

In the Seven Woods

The Winding Stair

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Tower
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?

A poor person

A very old person

A person who works in a kitchen

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

1921

1903

1900
16 When does the work take place?

A summer evening

The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon

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

Wealthy

Elevated

Intoxicated

Physically far from the ground
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 following norms of feminine beauty

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

Personification

Metonymy

Synecdoche

Understatement
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Coins in a pocket

A dream that has been forgotten

Drops of water from a fountain

The embers of a fire
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?

Hunting

Farming

Sewing

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

It is written in the second person

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is a sonnet

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

Physical beauty

Poetry

Childhood

Love
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The eternal beauty of nature

The omnipresence of the divine

The speaker's cynicism about love

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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