September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The Irish separatist John 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

Modern Ireland has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

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

O'Leary

Tone

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

Jocular

Bitter

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

ABBACDDC

ABCDEF

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

Quatrains

Quintains

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

Consider

Carry

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

ecstasy

unconsciousness

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

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

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 imagining them having a conversation

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By describing their respective homes and clothes
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
There is no assonance in this phrase

The short I sound

The O sound

The S sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That Romantic Ireland is dead

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

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?
Personification

Synecdoche

Alliteration

End rhyme
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?
"little time had they to pray"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"men were born to pray and save"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The sixth

The fourth

The first

The third
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?
Situational irony

Alliteration

Synecdoche

Simile
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Food and wine

Prayer and money

Education and travel

Luxurious material goods
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
The speaker

Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

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

Verbal Irony

Simile

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

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

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

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metonymy

Synecdoche

Simile

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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