September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William 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?
Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

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
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
O'Leary

Emmet

Fitzgerald

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

Bitter

Businesslike

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

AABBCCDD

ABBCDCD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quatrains

Sestets

Quintains

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

Consider

Offer input

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

ecstasy

stupidity

unconsciousness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

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 imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By imagining them having a conversation

By describing their respective homes and clothes

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The S sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The short I sound

The O 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 Romantic Ireland is dead

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on
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 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
End rhyme

Personification

Alliteration

Synecdoche
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
Bloody Sunday

The Dublin Lock-Out

The Easter Rising

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

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"men were born to pray and save"

"little time had they to pray"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The fourth

The sixth

The third

The first
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
O'Leary

Irish soldiers

The speaker's child

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Synecdoche

Simile

Alliteration

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

Luxurious material goods

Education and travel

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

Ireland's children

The speaker

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Assonance

Verbal Irony

Metaphor

Simile
23 What is this poem's meter?
Anapestic trimeter

Iambic tetrameter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic hexameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

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

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?
Simile

Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

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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