September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The Irish separatist John 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 would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

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

Emmet

Tone

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

Businesslike

Jocular

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

ABCDEF

AABBCCDD

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

Quintains

Sestets

Quatrains
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?
ecstasy

illness

unconsciousness

stupidity
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By describing their respective homes and clothes

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining them having a conversation

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The short I sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The S sound

The O sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
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

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Personification

End rhyme

Alliteration

Synecdoche
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Dublin Lock-Out

The Easter Rising

Bloody Sunday

The Spanish Flu epidemic
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"little time had they to pray"

"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 first

The fourth

The sixth

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

Irish soldiers

O'Leary

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

Simile

Situational irony

Synecdoche
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?
Ireland's children

The speaker

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?
Metaphor

Verbal Irony

Assonance

Simile
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

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

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

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Simile

Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

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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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