The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following is an instance of metaphor?

The poem contains no metaphors

"bird-calls / dribble"

"I start for a second"

"Tell me how old I am"
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?

8

4

6

9
3 The phrase "fly their kites" contains which of the following?

Verbal irony

Sibilance

Assonance

Alliteration
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?

Drunkenly

Unbelievably

In a stumbling manner

With emphatic movements
5 What types of stanzas make up this poem?

Quatrains

Couplets

Tercets

Sestets
6 What does "sift" most closely mean here?

Dirty

Split

Fall

Sicken
7 What does "blench" mean?

Crush

Belch

Fall

Flinch
8 Which of the following is a refrain?

"Tell me how old I am."

"Nobody tells me anything."

"I am growing deaf."

"The claws are lost somewhere."
9 Which best describes the extended metaphor of the mountain enviroment?

It is a paradisal space representing heaven

It is a harsh, strange landscape representing old age

It is a quiet, pastoral place representing the paired tranquility and boredom of age

It is a dangerous landscape representing illness and death
10 The phrase "Nobody tells me anything" is an instance of which of the following?

Personification

Understatement

Simile

Hyperbole
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?

The sestina

The haiku

The sonnet

The villanelle
12 In what year was "The Mountain" first published?

1952

1884

1928

1996
13 The phrase "like cotton in my ears" is an instance of which of the following?

Simile

Metaphor

Metonymy

Personification
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?

Incapable of thought

Impossible to get through

Impossible to contain

Intimidatingly beautiful
15 Where does the speaker live?

Massachusetts

This isn't stated in the poem

London

Brazil
16 What does "clambering" mean?

Cooking

Struggling

Confusing

Climbing
17 Which of the following is NOT an example of personification?

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"

"stars go fly their kites."

"They say it is my fault"

"An open book confronts me"
18 Who is the poem's speaker?

An older man looking back on his life

A young woman imagining her old age

A young man addressing his beloved

An unidentified elderly person
19 Which best describes the poem's major conflict?

It is the speaker's argument with her daughter about living together

It is the speaker's struggle to maintain dignity and comfort in old age

It is the speaker's discussion with her past self as she grows old

It is the speaker's attempt to reach the top of the mountain
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?

Time

Poetry

The New Yorker

The Paris Review
21 What does "demarcation" mean?

Disagreement

Division

Tarnish

Vacation
22 The phrase "deepest demarcation" is an instance of which of the following?

End rhyme

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

Alliteration
23 Which of the following best describes this poem's tone?

Serene

Jolly

Anxious

Resigned
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABADACAD

It has no regular rhyme scheme

ABABAB CDCDCD EF

AABB CCDD
25 What is the poem's meter?

Though the poem has rhythmic patterns, it has no regular meter

Iambic hexameter

Spondaic monometer

Iambic pentameter

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