September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The painter Joseph O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary
2 How does the speaker conceive of the relationship between Irish people today and past Irish heroes?
Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

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

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

Modern Ireland has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Tone

Fitzgerald

Emmet

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

Businesslike

Dreamy

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

ABCDEF

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quatrains

Quintains

Octaves

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

Carry

Measure

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

stupidity

ecstasy

illness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies
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 them having a conversation

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
There is no assonance in this phrase

The O sound

The S sound

The short I sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

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

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
End rhyme

Synecdoche

Alliteration

Personification
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
Bloody Sunday

The Dublin Lock-Out

The Spanish Flu epidemic

The Easter Rising
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"men were born to pray and save"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"little time had they to pray"
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?
Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

O'Leary

Irish soldiers

The speaker's child
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Simile

Synecdoche

Situational irony

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

Food and wine

Prayer and money

Education and travel
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

Ireland's children

Robert Emmet

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

Simile

Metaphor

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

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter
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?
Simile

Synecdoche

Metonymy

Metaphor

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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