The Cry of the Children Quizzes

The Cry of the Children Quiz

By Eleanor Stern · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed August 14, 2021

1 Which issue does this poem directly address?

Civilian casualties in wartime

Child labor

Smallpox

Educational inequities
2 What is the poem's setting?

Post-World War II Japan

Industrializing Britain

Colonial America

Revolutionary-era France
3 How many stanzas are in this poem?

13

9

4

20
4 How many lines are in each of the poem's stanzas?

14

12

5

8
5 Fill in the blank: "But the young, young children, O _____, / Do you ask them why they stand"

My friends

My dears

My sisters

My brothers
6 What is the speaker's primary goal?

To convince teachers to treat children more kindly

To persuade bystanders that the children need help

To persuade the children to stand up for themselves

To ask God to intervene on the children's behalf
7 What is the definition of the word "kirk-chime"?

Bell announcing the end of the workday

Church bell

Morning alarm clock

Bird's song
8 Which sound creates assonance in the line "the old tree is leafless in the forest"?

T

S

O

E
9 Fill in the blank: "The _____ flower would look as pale as snow."

Deepest

Darkest

Brightest

Reddest
10 Which word does NOT describe the poem's tone?

Celebratory

Accusing

Urgent

Persuasive
11 What is the definition of the word "cerement"?

An industrial building

The hierarchical system of factory workers

A type of machine used in mining

A cloth used to wrap corpses
12 What do the wheels symbolize?

The effects of the rail system

The all-seeing nature of God

The degradation of industrial labor

The cycle of life in nature
13 Which of the following points does the poem make about child labor?

That it should be allowed only when children have finished schooling

That it destroys the children's desire to live a better life

That it should be used only as a punishment for bad children

That children are incapable of working and harm industry
14 Which best describes the poem's argument about religion?

That child workers are being deprived of a religious education

That industry and capitalism have become a religion unto themselves

That industrialists are using religion to threaten and manipulate workers

That children will only believe in God's love if they feel loved by people
15 Fill in the blank: ""For all day, the wheels are _____, turning,"

Winding

Droning

Turning

Twisting
16 Which work situations does the poem focus on?

Agriculture and horse driving

Childcare and domestic labor

Factory work and mining

Chimney sweeping
17 What is the effect of the poem's imagery of the natural world?

To show that nature is always brutal and cannot be changed

To suggest that human industry is destroying nature

To point out that children benefit from working in nature

To illustrate the unnatural nature of children's suffering
18 Fill in the blank: "And the children's _____, which God is calling sunward, / Spin on blindly in the dark."

Souls

Words

Faces

Work
19 Which story appears in the poem to illustrate its argument?

The story of the workhouse boy

The story of Little Alice

The story of Martha Appleton

The story of Oliver Twist
20 Which idea is expressed in the line "Leave us quiet in the dark of the coal-shadows, / From your pleasures fair and fine!”

That the speakers find pleasure sinful

That the children believe they deserve to remain in the mines

That the children are too tired to seek out joy

That the sarcastic children are angry about being abandoned
21 What genre is referenced in the poem's final stanza?

Comic books

Epics and legends

Nursery rhymes

Hymns
22 What is the rhyme scheme of each stanza?

ABBACDDC

ABACBC

AABBCCDDEEFFGG

ABABCDCDEFEF
23 The line "They are binding up their hearts away from breaking, / With a cerement from the grave" metaphorically describes which of the following?

The children's focus on physical strength and safety

It is not a metaphor; it describes a literal burial

The elderly employer's willful blindness to children's pain

The children's self-defensive numbness
24 Fill in the blank: "We know no other words, except '_____,'

I'm tired

Get to work

Help us

Our father
25 Which sound creates alliteration in the line "And merry go her moments, lulled and stilled in,"?

S

L

M

O

Essays for The Cry of the Children

The Cry of the Children essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Browning.

Implication through Contrasting Voices in “The Cry of the Children”