September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The painter Joseph 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?

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

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

Fitzgerald

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

Jocular

Businesslike

Dreamy

Bitter
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

AABBCCDD

ABCDEF

ABBCDCD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?

Quatrains

Octaves

Quintains

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

Consider

Carry

Measure

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

unconsciousness

ecstasy

stupidity

illness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

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 describing their respective homes and clothes

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 S sound

The O 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 O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That Romantic Ireland is dead
13 When did Robert Emmet die?

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

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

Synecdoche

End rhyme

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?

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"little time had they to pray"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"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 fourth

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

Irish soldiers

O'Leary

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?

Situational irony

Alliteration

Simile

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

Education and travel

Luxurious material goods

Prayer and money

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

Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

The speaker

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

Simile

Verbal Irony

Assonance

Metaphor
23 What is this poem's meter?

Anapestic trimeter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Trochaic hexameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?

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

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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

Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

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…