September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William 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?

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

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?

Emmet

O'Leary

Fitzgerald

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

Dreamy

Bitter

Jocular

Businesslike
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

ABCDEF

ABBCDCD

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?

Quatrains

Quintains

Octaves

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

Consider

Offer input

Measure

Carry
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

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?

By imagining them having a conversation

By describing their respective homes and clothes

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

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

There is no assonance in this phrase

The O sound

The short I sound

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 O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

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

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

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

Alliteration

End rhyme

Synecdoche

Personification
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?

"little time had they to pray"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"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 sixth

The fourth

The first

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

Irish soldiers

O'Leary

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?

Situational irony

Synecdoche

Alliteration

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

Luxurious material goods

Education and travel

Food and wine

Prayer and money
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The speaker

Ireland's children

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

Simile

Verbal Irony

Assonance
23 What is this poem's meter?

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter

Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter
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

Simile

Synecdoche

Metaphor

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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