If We Must Die Quizzes

If We Must Die Quiz

1 In what year did McKay write "If We Must Die"?

1919

1921

1918

1917
2 What is most important to the speaker?

Honor

Survival

Victory

Personal fame
3 What kind of sonnet is "If We Must Die"?

Spenserian sonnet

Petrarchan sonnet

Shakespearean sonnet

Victorian sonnet
4 How does the speaker first characterize his enemy?

Like monsters

Like wolves

Like dogs

Like men
5 How many times is the line "If We Must Die" repeated in the poem?

Once

3 times

Never

2 times
6 What "inglorious" animal does the speaker urge his allies not to imitate?

Cats

Rats

Cattle

Hogs
7 Which of the following kinds of words are NOT used in the poem?

Archaic words

Numbers

Colors

Animal words
8 What image from the poem's final line conveys the allies' dire situation?

Being penned in

Being pinned down

Being surrounded

Being pressed to the wall
9 What word does the speaker use to directly address his compatriots?

Fellow men

Brothers

Kinsmen

Allies
10 What famous historical figure reportedly read the poem to the public during World War II?

Winston Churchill

General Douglas MacArthur

Langston Hughes

Franklin D. Roosevelt
11 If the speaker fights honorably, what will the "monsters" be forced to do?

Let him live

Honor him

Forgive him

Bury him
12 What phrase in the poem potentially refers to Christ?

Thousand blows

Precious blood

Open grave

Accursèd lot
13 What events inspired the poem's composition?

McKay's trip to Russia

World War I

The Red Summer

Woodrow Wilson's presidency
14 What does the speaker say the enemy will do if his allies surrender?

Pardon him

Congratulate him

Mock him

Honor him
15 What figure of speech is "O, kinsmen!"?

Apostrophe

Anaphora

Acrostic

Aphorism
16 How does the speaker handle the possibility of death?

He stands firm in the face of it

He willing submits to it

He fears it

He refuses to believe it
17 In what magazine was the poem originally published?

The Messenger

The Liberator

The Crisis

The Atlantic
18 What vowel sound is repeated throughout the second and third quatrains?

I

U

E

O
19 How does the speaker suggest they should die?

Quickly

Nobly

Reluctantly

Willingly
20 What is the poem's attitude towards combat?

A realistic sense of guerrilla warface

A modernist sense of chaos and futility

A disavowal in favor of non-violent protest

Classical notions of heroic conflict
21 What kind of words drop out at the end of the poem?

Animal words like "pack"

Words related to death

Conditional words like "if"

Words related to gender
22 What does the speaker mean when he says "before us lies the open grave"?

They will dig graves

They will certainly die

They will kill the enemy

They might die
23 What makes "If We Must Die" different from a typical sonnet?

It is uses romanticized ideals

It does not use the singular "I"

It is has a final rhyming couplet

It uses comparisons to animals
24 What sound is repeated many times in the second line of the poem?

P sounds

M sounds

T sounds

N sounds
25 What ratio does the speaker use to give a sense of how outnumbered they are?

10000:1

1000:1

10:1

100:1