September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior 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 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

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

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?
Bitter

Businesslike

Dreamy

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

ABBACDDC

ABBCDCD

AABBCCDD
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?
Carry

Consider

Measure

Offer input
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"?
The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies
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 short I sound

The O sound

The S sound

There is no assonance in this phrase
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
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

That Romantic Ireland is dead
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
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

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

Alliteration

Personification

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

The Spanish Flu epidemic

Bloody Sunday

The Dublin Lock-Out
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 fourth

The sixth

The third

The first
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
The speaker's child

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

Irish soldiers

O'Leary
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Simile

Synecdoche

Alliteration

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

Prayer and money

Education and travel

Luxurious material goods
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

The speaker

Ireland's children
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

Anapestic trimeter

Iambic pentameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

Simile

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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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