Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Aggressive

Aloof

Gleeful
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

Supposedly

Right after

Therefore

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

Paradise Lost

Irish folklore

The Book of Genesis

The parables of Jesus
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?

People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles

Prior examples

Comforting narratives
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

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

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

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

W.B. Yeats

Maud Gonne
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

AABBCCDD

ABABCDCD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

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 become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?

In the Seven Woods

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair

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

A person who works in a kitchen

A poor person

A poet

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

A sick person

A lazy person

A member of the clergy

An artist
15 When was this poem published?

1921

1900

1903

1914
16 When does the work take place?

Christmas afternoon

Early spring

The middle of the night

A summer evening
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?

Physically far from the ground

Intoxicated

Wealthy

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

The art of understanding nature

The art of writing poetry

The art of reading the Bible

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?

Coins in a pocket

The embers of a fire

Drops of water from a fountain

A dream that has been forgotten
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

Hunting

Childbearing

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

It is written in the second person

It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

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

Love

Childhood

Physical beauty

Poetry
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The speaker's cynicism about love

The eternal beauty of nature

The omnipresence of the divine

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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