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?
Ireland's modern middle class has betrayed the heroes of the past

Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

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?
Emmet

Tone

Fitzgerald

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

Bitter

Dreamy

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

ABBACDDC

AABBCCDD

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

Octaves

Quintains

Quatrains
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Offer input

Measure

Consider

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

ecstasy

stupidity

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

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties
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"?
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 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

That Romantic Ireland is dead
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

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

End rhyme

Personification

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

Bloody Sunday

The Dublin Lock-Out

The Spanish Flu epidemic
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"men were born to pray and save"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

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

The first

The fourth

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

O'Leary

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

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

Situational irony

Synecdoche

Simile
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?
Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

Ireland's children

The speaker

Robert Emmet
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Assonance

Metaphor

Verbal Irony

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

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

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

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel
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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