September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The painter Joseph 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

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
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?
Dreamy

Bitter

Jocular

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

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDC

ABBCDCD
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

Offer input

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

stupidity

ecstasy

unconsciousness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers
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"?
The O sound

The S sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

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 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Synecdoche

Alliteration

End rhyme

Personification
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Easter Rising

The Spanish Flu epidemic

The Dublin Lock-Out

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

"little time had they to pray"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The fourth

The first

The sixth

The third
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
Irish soldiers

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

O'Leary

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

Synecdoche

Simile

Situational irony
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Education and travel

Food and wine

Prayer and money

Luxurious material goods
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

Assonance

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

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

Simile

Metaphor

Synecdoche

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…