September 1913 Quizzes

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September 1913 Quiz

By Eleanor Stern · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed December 12, 2022

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

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior 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'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 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?

Fitzgerald

O'Leary

Emmet

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

Bitter

Businesslike

Dreamy

Jocular
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDC

ABCDEF

ABBCDCD
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?

Offer input

Measure

Consider

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

stupidity

unconsciousness

ecstasy

illness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers
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 imagining them having a conversation

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By describing their respective homes and clothes
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?

The S sound

The O sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

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

End rhyme

Synecdoche

Personification

Alliteration
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?

The Dublin Lock-Out

Bloody Sunday

The Easter Rising

The Spanish Flu epidemic
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 fourth

The third

The first
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?

O'Leary

Irish soldiers

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

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

Simile

Alliteration

Synecdoche

Situational irony
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?

The speaker

Ireland's children

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

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

Assonance

Simile

Verbal Irony

Metaphor
23 What is this poem's meter?

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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

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

Simile

Synecdoche

Metonymy

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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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