Sestina (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

Sestina (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 The phrase "her teacup full of dark brown tears" is an example of which of the following?
Personification

Simile

Verbal irony

Metaphor
2 What does "foretold" mean?
Imagined

Dreaded

Threatened

Predicted
3 Who is the speaker?
The grandchild

An omniscient third person

The grandmother

The almanac
4 What kind of stanzas are in this poem?
Sestets

Quatrains

Tercets

Sestets and a tercet
5 The word "birdlike" is an instance of what?
Metaphor

Understatement

Simile

Hyperbole
6 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?
Adventure

Care

Repression

Trauma
7 In what month does the poem take place?
October

September

November

December
8 Which best describes the sestina as a form?
It consists of couplets with identical end words, which are preceded by a rhymed word

It contains two repeated, alternating refrains, which appear at the close of every stanza

It builds up to a volta, or turn, which takes place after either the eighth or twelfth line

It contains repeated concluding words in every line, which shift order from one stanza to the next
9 Which best describes the two characters' dynamic?
They are both haunted by the same event, but do no openly discuss that event

They are haunted by a recent tragedy, but discuss that event at length to comfort each other

They are hostile with one another, blaming each other for their shared past

They are blissfully happy, as-yet unaware of the tragedy in their family
10 Which is NOT one of the repeated words in this poem?
kettle

grandmother

tears

stove
11 What is an almanac?
A joke book

A family photo album

A type of reference book containing information such as calendars

A journal used for recording household expenditures
12 What does "rigid" mean?
Sturdy

Ironic

Rude

Inflexible
13 To what does Bishop compare the tea in the grandmother's cup?
Milk

Blood

Tears

The ocean
14 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA CDDC EFFE

ABABAB

It is unrhymed

ABBCDD EFFGEE
15 What does the word "inscrutable" mean?
Painful

Mysterious

Funny

Hard
16 What does the child draw?
The moon

Herself

A stove

A house
17 When was this poem first published?
1928

1979

1953

1956
18 What is the final stanza of a sestina called?
An envoi

A strophe

An aubade

A volta
19 Where is the poem set?
New Orleans

The English countryside

Its setting is unstated

Boston
20 What does "Marvel" refer to in this poem?
A media company

A sect of Christianity

An adjective meaning "amazing"

A brand of kitchenware
21 How many stanzas are in this poem?
5

7

6

16
22 Which of the following contains alliteration?
"the old grandmother"

"September rain falls"

"sings on the stove"

"shows it proudly to the grandmother."
23 In which publication did this poem first appear?
The New Yorker

Harpers

None—it first appeared in book form

The Paris Review
24 What has traumatized the characters in this poem?
The death of the child's mother

The precise nature of the event is hinted at but never revealed

A war

A house fire
25 What is an equinox?
A night on which an eclipse happens

A date on which the night and the day are of the same length

The longest day of the year

The hottest night of the year

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