Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Aggressive

Regretful

Aloof
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
On top of

Supposedly

Therefore

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

Irish folklore

Paradise Lost

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?
People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles

Prior examples

Comforting narratives
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?
Maud Gonne

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

Augusta Gregory

W.B. Yeats
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
AABBCCDD

ABBACDDCEFFE

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 poet

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a banker

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

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Trochaic pentameter
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 become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
The Wanderings of Oisin

The Tower

The Winding Stair

In the Seven Woods
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A very old person

A poor person

A person who works in a kitchen

A poet
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
A member of the clergy

An artist

A sick person

A lazy person
15 When was this poem published?
1914

1900

1921

1903
16 When does the work take place?
A summer evening

Early spring

Christmas afternoon

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

Physically far from the ground

Intoxicated

Elevated
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?
Personification

Synecdoche

Understatement

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

Coins in a pocket

The embers of a fire

Drops of water from a fountain
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

Childbearing

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

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It switches speakers several times

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

Physical beauty

Childhood

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

The light and redemption found in dark times

The eternal beauty of nature

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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