September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The painter Joseph 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 has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

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
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Emmet

Fitzgerald

Tone

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

Businesslike

Dreamy

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

ABBACDDC

AABBCCDD

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

Quintains

Sestets

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

Consider

Offer input

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

illness

ecstasy

unconsciousness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By describing their respective homes and clothes

By imagining them having a conversation
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The O sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The S 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 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Alliteration

End rhyme

Personification

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

The Spanish Flu epidemic

The Dublin Lock-Out

The Easter Rising
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"little time had they to pray"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"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 sixth

The third

The first

The fourth
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

O'Leary

The speaker's child

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

Situational irony

Simile

Synecdoche
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Prayer and money

Food and wine

Luxurious material goods

Education and travel
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Robert Emmet

The speaker

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?
Assonance

Metaphor

Verbal Irony

Simile
23 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written

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
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metaphor

Synecdoche

Metonymy

Simile

September 1913 Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for September 1913 is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for September 1913…