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

Right after

Therefore
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

Paradise Lost

The parables of Jesus

Irish folklore

The Book of Genesis
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?

As beautiful and kind

As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated

As sluggish and weary
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?

Underlying principles

Prior examples

Comforting narratives

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

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets

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

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

Maud Gonne

Augusta Gregory

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

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

ABBACDDCEFFE

AABBCCDD
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a mother

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

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

Dactylic trimeter
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?

The Wanderings of Oisin

In the Seven Woods

The Winding Stair

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

A poet

A poor person

A very old person

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

A member of the clergy

An artist

A lazy person

A sick person
15 When was this poem published?

1921

1903

1914

1900
16 When does the work take place?

A summer evening

The middle of the night

Early spring

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

Elevated

Physically far from the ground

Intoxicated

Wealthy
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 understanding nature

The art of reading the Bible

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

Synecdoche

Personification

Metonymy

Understatement
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Coins in a pocket

A dream that has been forgotten

The embers of a fire

Drops of water from a fountain
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?

The addressee

The speaker

The friend

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

Childbearing

Sewing

Hunting

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

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It switches speakers several times

It is written in the second person

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

Physical beauty

Love

Childhood

Poetry
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The omnipresence of the divine

The light and redemption found in dark times

The eternal beauty of nature

The speaker's cynicism about love

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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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