Climbing My Grandfather Quizzes

Climbing My Grandfather Quiz

1 What is the name of the poet who wrote "Climbing My Grandfather"?
Owen Sheers

Colin Tudge

Andrew Waterhouse

Simon Armitage
2 What collection was this poem originally published in? What year?
2nd (2001)

In (2001)

In (2000)

2nd (2000)
3 What prize did the collection win?
Nobel Prize

James Laughlin Award

Forward Prize for Best First Collection

Pulitzer Prize
4 What kind of work did the poet do professionally for most of his career?
Manager at a gas and oil company

Poetry professor

Environmental lecturer at a college

Environmental field worker and researcher
5 What is the poem's meter?
Blank verse

Free verse

Iambic tetrameter

Iambic pentameter
6 What kind of climbing does the speaker decide to do?
Bouldering

Free climbing

Free soloing

Aid climbing
7 What are brogues?
A fancy type of shoe worn at cocktail parties.

A type of pants designed for any weather.

A new pair of pants.

A type of shoe originally designed to be worn outdoors by farmers.
8 What is suggested by the description of the grandfather's shoes as "dusty and cracked"?
The grandfather wears and uses things until they completely fall apart.

The grandfather should not wear shoes.

The grandfather waits for his wife to clean the shoes.

The grandfather kicks his grandson.
9 Which of the following devices is not used in the poem?
Rhyme

Enjambment

Assonance

Metaphors
10 What does it mean to traverse?
Summit

Move sideways

Descend

Move upward diagonally
11 What is suggested by the grandfather's earth-stained hand?
The grandfather hates the environment where he lives.

The grandfather works outdoors in the natural world.

The grandfather is sloppy and expects his wife to clean him.

The grandfather wants to move to the city.
12 Which is an example of an oxymoron?
Brown eye

Gasping for breath

Smiling mouth

Warm ice
13 What might the grandfather's scar represent?
His time in prison

All of the hurt and wounds he has sustained in his lifetime

His ability to defend himself

His status as a veteran of World War I
14 Why does the speaker not look down while resting at his grandfather's shoulder?
Because he wants to go back to being a child again

Because he will jump

Because climbing has its dangers

Because he hates looking back in time
15 Which details make evident that the grandfather's body has not broken down with age, at least in the speaker's reckoning in this poem?
His splintered nails and his smiling mouth

The old stitches of his scar and his earth-stained hand

His "still firm shoulder," the teeth in his smiling mouth, and his thick hair

The clouds and birds circling above and the speaker's tiredness
16 What is suggested by the fact that the speaker "gently" places his feet in the old stitches of his grandfather's scar?
He wants to hurt his grandfather

He treats his grandfather with care, respect, and reverence

He doesn't care about his grandfather's past

He wants to quickly finish the climb
17 How many stanzas are in this poem?
One

Two

Five

Three
18 Which of the following is not a symbol in the poem?
Climbing

Brown pants

The brogues

The scar
19 What does climbing symbolize?
Descent into madness

The tenacity of the human body and spirit

Failure

Moving upwards in life
20 Does the terrain of the grandfather represent the whole world in the poem?
No—there are birds and clouds circling above

Yes

No—the speaker looks down and sees other climbers below in the grass

No—the speaker jumps off while at his grandfather's shoulder and goes paragliding
21 Which of the following is an example of assonance?
I cross the screed cheek,

to an earth-stained hand. The nails

the forehead, the wrinkles well-spaced

the slow pulse of his good heart.
22 What is assonance?
The repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line

The use of words with the same beginning sound

An object in, or the subject of, a poem is described as being the same as another otherwise unrelated object

The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together in a sentence or verse
23 What does "knowing" suggest at the end of the poem?
A deep communal relationship between the speaker and his grandfather

The speaker's ardent intellectualism

The speaker's faith in God

The grandfather's wisdom
24 In which quote does the speaker explicitly refer to his grandfather's character?
the skin of his finger is smooth and thick like warm ice

to a smiling mouth to drink among teeth.

his thick hair (soft and white at this altitude)

the slow pulse of his good heart.
25 Is there a distance created between the speaker and his grandfather (and thus the environment)?
Yes—the speaker only gazes upon the landscape of his grandfather from a distance

Yes—it is an abusive relationship, which mirrors the way rocks can be unforgiving

No—the speaker interacts with and discovers more about his grandfather as he climbs

No—the speaker explicitly states throughout the poem how much he loves his grandfather

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