September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The Irish separatist John 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 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
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

ABBACDDC

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

Quintains

Quatrains

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

Offer input

Carry

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

stupidity

unconsciousness

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

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
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

By imagining them having a conversation
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The O sound

The short I sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The S sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That Romantic Ireland is dead

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
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Alliteration

Personification

End rhyme

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?
"little time had they to pray"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"men were born to pray and save"

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

The third

The sixth

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

The speaker's child

Irish soldiers

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

Situational irony

Synecdoche

Alliteration
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Food and wine

Prayer and money

Luxurious material goods

Education and travel
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?
Assonance

Verbal Irony

Simile

Metaphor
23 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
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

A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metonymy

Metaphor

Simile

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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