Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Aloof

Aggressive
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Therefore

On top of

Right after

Supposedly
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
Irish folklore

The parables of Jesus

The Book of Genesis

Paradise Lost
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As sluggish and weary

As fiery and opinionated

As clever and critical

As beautiful and kind
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
Underlying principles

Comforting narratives

Prior examples

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 a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of twenty couplets
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?
Augusta Gregory

W.B. Yeats

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

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

ABBACDDCEFFE

ABABCDCD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme
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?
Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To become a banker or schoolteacher
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
The Wanderings of Oisin

The Tower

In the Seven Woods

The Winding Stair
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?
An artist

A sick person

A lazy person

A member of the clergy
15 When was this poem published?
1921

1900

1903

1914
16 When does the work take place?
Early spring

Christmas afternoon

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

Elevated

Wealthy
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 following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible
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?
The embers of a fire

A dream that has been forgotten

Coins in a pocket

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

The addressee

The speaker

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

Sewing

Farming

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

It is written in the second person

It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?
Poetry

Childhood

Love

Physical beauty
25 What does the moon symbolize?
The eternal beauty of nature

The light and redemption found in dark times

The speaker's cynicism about love

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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