September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary
2 How does the speaker conceive of the relationship between Irish people today and past Irish heroes?
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 has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

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?
O'Leary

Tone

Emmet

Fitzgerald
4 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Businesslike

Jocular

Dreamy

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

ABBCDCD

ABBACDDC

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

Quatrains

Sestets

Octaves
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Measure

Carry

Offer input

Consider
8 What is closest to a definition of the word "delirium" as used in the poem?
stupidity

ecstasy

illness

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

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By describing their respective homes and clothes

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By imagining them having a conversation
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
There is no assonance in this phrase

The S sound

The O sound

The short I sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That Romantic Ireland is dead
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

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
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Personification

Synecdoche

End rhyme

Alliteration
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?
"men were born to pray and save"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"little time had they to pray"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The first

The sixth

The third

The fourth
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
Irish soldiers

O'Leary

The speaker's child

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Situational irony

Simile

Alliteration

Synecdoche
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Luxurious material goods

Prayer and money

Education and travel

Food and wine
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

Robert Emmet

Ireland's children

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Metaphor

Simile

Assonance

Verbal Irony
23 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic tetrameter

Trochaic hexameter

Anapestic trimeter

Iambic pentameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

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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