Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

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

Swallows

Sparrows

Starlings
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Comedic

Nostalgic

Elegiac

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

A small church built from logs

Stained glass

A wooden cross
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death

They are silent and unmoving

They verbally express hopeful camaraderie to one another

Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In a field in the aftermath of a battle

In the middle of a gunfight

In a tactical meeting

In a battlefield hospital
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances

The soldiers' grim determination to win
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A town in Massachusetts

A battle during the Civil War

A whaling ship
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers

Flying swallows

The signing of a treaty

Soldiers returning home
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
Southern aristocratic values

A historical reckoning with slavery

The history of a navy yard

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

April rain

Swallows

A church
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A Union surrender

A bitter stalement

A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A key victory for the Union
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Ulysses S. Grant

Anonymous soldiers

Battlefield medics

Robert E. Lee
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
A soldier's suppression of commonalities

The collapse of a soldier's individual identity

The senseless carnage of war

The struggle of growing up
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"

"The swallows fly low"

"Through the pause of night"

"The forest-field of Shiloh-"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

"Over the field in clouded days,"

"The church so lone, the log built one,"

"While over them the swallows skim,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Graceful and light

Dangerous and violent

Fearful and shaky

Stealthy and fast
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
AABB

ABAB

There isn't one

ABAC
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Snowy and peaceful

Freezing and harsh

Rainy and somber

Sunny and happy
19 What image bookends the poem?
A church

Rain clouds

A graveyard

Swallows
20 What does "hushed" mean in the context of the poem?
It refers to the exit movement of an army from a town.

It refers to the silence in a church service.

It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

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

8

2

4
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
Metonymy

All three

Assonance

Rhyme
23 Which of the following words is an example of onomatopoeia
Rain

Hushed

Prayer

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

Dying gasp

Grumbled goodbye

Bitter send off
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
Taxes

Prejudice

War

Famine

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