The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following is an instance of metaphor?
"I start for a second"

The poem contains no metaphors

"Tell me how old I am"

"bird-calls / dribble"
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?
8

9

6

4
3 The phrase "fly their kites" contains which of the following?
Assonance

Alliteration

Verbal irony

Sibilance
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?
Unbelievably

With emphatic movements

In a stumbling manner

Drunkenly
5 What types of stanzas make up this poem?
Tercets

Quatrains

Sestets

Couplets
6 What does "sift" most closely mean here?
Dirty

Fall

Split

Sicken
7 What does "blench" mean?
Crush

Flinch

Belch

Fall
8 Which of the following is a refrain?
"The claws are lost somewhere."

"Tell me how old I am."

"I am growing deaf."

"Nobody tells me anything."
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 dangerous landscape representing illness and death

It is a quiet, pastoral place representing the paired tranquility and boredom of age
10 The phrase "Nobody tells me anything" is an instance of which of the following?
Personification

Hyperbole

Understatement

Simile
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?
The sonnet

The haiku

The villanelle

The sestina
12 In what year was "The Mountain" first published?
1884

1996

1952

1928
13 The phrase "like cotton in my ears" is an instance of which of the following?
Metaphor

Personification

Simile

Metonymy
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?
Impossible to contain

Intimidatingly beautiful

Impossible to get through

Incapable of thought
15 Where does the speaker live?
London

Brazil

Massachusetts

This isn't stated in the poem
16 What does "clambering" mean?
Cooking

Struggling

Confusing

Climbing
17 Which of the following is NOT an example of personification?
"An open book confronts me"

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"

"They say it is my fault"

"stars go fly their kites."
18 Who is the poem's speaker?
An unidentified elderly person

A young woman imagining her old age

A young man addressing his beloved

An older man looking back on his life
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 attempt to reach the top of the mountain

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
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?
The New Yorker

The Paris Review

Poetry

Time
21 What does "demarcation" mean?
Tarnish

Division

Disagreement

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

Alliteration

End rhyme

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

Resigned

Serene

Anxious
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABABAB CDCDCD EF

It has no regular rhyme scheme

AABB CCDD

ABADACAD
25 What is the poem's meter?
Spondaic monometer

Iambic pentameter

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

Iambic hexameter

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