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?

Supposedly

Right after

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 sluggish and weary

As beautiful and kind

As fiery and opinionated

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

Prior examples

Comforting narratives

Underlying principles

People in charge of institutions
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

Augusta Gregory

Maud Gonne

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

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

ABBACDDCEFFE

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

AABBCCDD
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 soldier

The speaker is a banker
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 return to prelapsarian paradise

To become a banker or schoolteacher

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?

The Winding Stair

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Tower

In the Seven Woods
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?

A very old person

A poor person

A poet

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

An artist

A member of the clergy

A lazy person

A sick person
15 When was this poem published?

1921

1914

1900

1903
16 When does the work take place?

A summer evening

Early spring

The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?

Elevated

Intoxicated

Wealthy

Physically far from the ground
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible

The art of writing poetry

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?

Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket

The embers of a fire

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?

Sewing

Hunting

Childbearing

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

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is written in the second person

It switches speakers several times

It is a sonnet
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?

Physical beauty

Poetry

Love

Childhood
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The omnipresence of the divine

The light and redemption found in dark times

The speaker's cynicism about love

The eternal beauty of nature

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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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