Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Gleeful

Aloof
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Right after

On top of

Therefore

Supposedly
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
Paradise Lost

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore

The parables of Jesus
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As sluggish and weary

As clever and critical

As beautiful and kind

As fiery and opinionated
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
People in charge of institutions

Comforting narratives

Prior examples

Underlying principles
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?
W.B. Yeats

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

Augusta Gregory

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?
Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To return to prelapsarian paradise

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

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

The Tower

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A very old person

A poet

A person who works in a kitchen

A poor person
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
An artist

A member of the clergy

A sick person

A lazy person
15 When was this poem published?
1914

1921

1900

1903
16 When does the work take place?
The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon

A summer evening

Early spring
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 reading the Bible

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of understanding nature

The art of writing poetry
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?
The embers of a fire

Coins in a pocket

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 friend

The addressee

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

Childbearing

Sewing

Farming
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?
It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is a sonnet

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

Physical beauty

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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