Prayer (Carol Ann Duffy poem) Quizzes

1 Which of the following lines uses personification?

"a man will stand stock-still"

"someone calls a child's name"

"the minims sung by a tree"

"Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre."
2 What does the poem's final line allude to?

The neighborhoods in Carol Ann Duffy's hometown

The U.K.'s nightly shipping broadcast

Tube stops in South London

The books of the Bible
3 Where does this poem's volta occur?

In the middle of line 6

At the end of line 4

Between lines 9 and 10

Between lines 12 and 13
4 Which of the following phrases from "Prayer" uses assonance?

a lodger looking

prayer utters itself

darkness outside

distant Latin chanting
5 The phrase "stand stock-still" is an example of what?

Assonance

Alliteration

Onomatopoeia

Anaphora
6 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

ABAB CDCD EFEF AA

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

ABBA ABBA CDCDCD

ABBA ABBA CDECDE
7 Which best describes this poem's tone?

Grandiose

Contemplative

Cold

Jocular
8 Which best describes the poem's central conflict?

The rift between a rural Christian community and an urban secular one nearby

The fight between a religious Catholic parent and an agnostic child

The internal conflict between a man's religious belief and his ambitions in industry

The tension between the secular world and peoples' religious needs and instincts
9 What is the phrase "Pray for us now" an allusion to?

The Jewish liturgy

Paradise Lost

W.B. Yeats' poetry

The Hail Mary
10 Which of the following devices characterize the phrase "hearing his youth / in the distant Latin chanting of a train"?

Metonymy

Synecdoche

Hyperbole

Aphorism
11 In which way does this poem's rhyme scheme differ from that of a traditional sonnet's?

The poem uses only slant rhyme, softening the effect of rhyme

The poem's final two lines do not rhyme with one another

The final line of every stanza rhymes

The final couplet uses a previously introduced rhyme sound rather than introducing a new one
12 Which is an example of irony in this poem?

The most prayerful moments in everyday life are visual or tactile, not verbal

The religious people are the most cynical, while the atheists are capable of prayer and thoughtfulness

The objects most commonly associated with secularism have the deepest spiritual power

The people who try hardest to pray are frustrated, while those who don't try have their prayers answered
13 What point of view does this poem's speaker use?

Third person

First-person plural

First-person singular

Second person
14 What best describes the general structure of this poem?

It describes a series of seemingly unrelated anecdotes, and concludes with one that ties them together

It begins with a broad statement, followed by examples describing or proving the statement

It recounts a series of scenes over the course of a single day

It consists of a list divided into subcategories
15 How does prayer manifest for the woman described in stanza 1?

The woman experiences sounds in the natural world as a comforting prayer

The woman stumbles upon a church in the woods

The woman tries to pray at church, but ends up preferring to do so in nature

The woman goes to church and is reminded of her rural childhood
16 Which most closely describes this poem's setting?

A vaguely European fantasy world

Civil War-era America

Ancient Greece

Twentieth-century United Kingdom
17 How does the man in stanza 2 experience prayer?

He takes a train to a church at a wedding and prays as he rides

His work as a train conductor is meditative and prayerful

He watches trains go by daily and says a prayer for the people inside

The sound of a train reminds him of church services
18 Duffy uses metaphor to compare a woman's hands to which of the following?

A funnel

A platter

Salad tongs

A sieve
19 Which best describes the speaker's definition of "prayer" in this poem?

Prayer is a wish or hope so fervently expressed that it comes true

Prayer is a two-way conversation between a person and God

Prayer is a process by which a person connects to someone or something else

Prayer is a musical expression of devotion
20 What sound does the lodger in stanza 3 experience as a prayer?

Piano scales

A baby's cry

A ticking clock

Rain on the window
21 What meter does this poem (most closely) adhere to?

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Spondaic dimeter
22 What form does this poem take?

Italian sonnet

Shakespearian sonnet

Free verse

Spenserian sonnet
23 Which of the following does the poem argue about music?

Music makes people feel spiritual in the moment, but doesn't have lasting power

Even non-professional or unskilled musicians can create a sense of prayerfulness

Virtuosic musicians have the ability to connect people to a higher power

Music with words creates religious awakening, but music without words does not
24 Which of the following is not a major theme of "Prayer"?

Modernity

Human Connection

Organized Religion

War
25 What kinds of stanzas appear in "Prayer"?

Tercets and quatrains

Couplets

Quatrains and couplets

Sextets and tercets

Prayer (Carol Ann Duffy poem) Quiz

Essays for Prayer (Carol Ann Duffy poem)