Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

1 What birds are mentioned at the poem's beginning and end?
Starlings

Sparrows

Blue Jays

Swallows
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Nostalgic

Elegiac

Comedic

Enraged
3 What religious imagery appears in the poem?
A painted icon

Stained glass

A wooden cross

A small church built from logs
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences

They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death

They verbally express hopeful camaraderie to one another

They are silent and unmoving
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In a battlefield hospital

In the middle of a gunfight

In a field in the aftermath of a battle

In a tactical meeting
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The soldiers' grim determination to win

The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
A battle during the Civil War

A town in Massachusetts

The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A whaling ship
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
The signing of a treaty

Flying swallows

The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers

Soldiers returning home
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
The history of a navy yard

Southern aristocratic values

A historical reckoning with slavery

The aftermath of war
10 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
Bayonets

April rain

A church

Swallows
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A Union surrender

A key victory for the Union

A bitter stalement
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Robert E. Lee

Battlefield medics

Ulysses S. Grant

Anonymous soldiers
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
The struggle of growing up

A soldier's suppression of commonalities

The collapse of a soldier's individual identity

The senseless carnage of war
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"The forest-field of Shiloh-"

"The swallows fly low"

"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"

"Through the pause of night"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"The church so lone, the log built one,"

"Over the field in clouded days,"

"While over them the swallows skim,"

"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Fearful and shaky

Dangerous and violent

Stealthy and fast

Graceful and light
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
ABAB

ABAC

AABB

There isn't one
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Freezing and harsh

Rainy and somber

Sunny and happy

Snowy and peaceful
19 What image bookends the poem?
Rain clouds

A graveyard

Swallows

A church
20 What does "hushed" mean in the context of the poem?
It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

It refers to the exit movement of an army from a town.

It refers to the silence in a church service.

It refers to the passing of the wounded soldiers and the resulting silence.
21 How many stanzas does the poem have?
7

4

8

2
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
All three

Metonymy

Rhyme

Assonance
23 Which of the following words is an example of onomatopoeia
Hushed

Prayer

Skim

Rain
24 What does the phrase "parting groan" most likely mean?
Annoyed message

Dying gasp

Bitter send off

Grumbled goodbye
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
War

Famine

Taxes

Prejudice

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