September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary
2 How does the speaker conceive of the relationship between Irish people today and past Irish heroes?
Modern Ireland has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

Ireland today carries the legacy of past heroes, even those whose names are lost to history

Ireland's modern middle class has betrayed the heroes of the past

Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Emmet

Fitzgerald

O'Leary

Tone
4 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Jocular

Dreamy

Businesslike

Bitter
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBACDDC

ABCDEF

ABBCDCD

AABBCCDD
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quintains

Quatrains

Octaves

Sestets
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Consider

Measure

Carry

Offer input
8 What is closest to a definition of the word "delirium" as used in the poem?
unconsciousness

illness

ecstasy

stupidity
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining them having a conversation

By describing their respective homes and clothes

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The short I sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The S sound

The O sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
End rhyme

Alliteration

Personification

Synecdoche
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Dublin Lock-Out

The Easter Rising

Bloody Sunday

The Spanish Flu epidemic
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"little time had they to pray"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"men were born to pray and save"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The fourth

The third

The first

The sixth
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
O'Leary

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

The speaker's child

Irish soldiers
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Alliteration

Synecdoche

Simile

Situational irony
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Education and travel

Luxurious material goods

Prayer and money

Food and wine
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Ireland's children

Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

The speaker
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Verbal Irony

Metaphor

Assonance

Simile
23 What is this poem's meter?
Trochaic hexameter

Anapestic trimeter

Iambic tetrameter

Iambic pentameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Synecdoche

Metaphor

Metonymy

Simile

September 1913 Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for September 1913

September 1913 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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