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"

"Tell me how old I am"

"I start for a second"
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?

6

4

8

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

Verbal irony

Alliteration

Sibilance

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

Unbelievably

In a stumbling manner

Drunkenly

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

Sestets

Tercets

Quatrains

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

Fall

Sicken

Split

Dirty
7 What does "blench" mean?

Flinch

Belch

Fall

Crush
8 Which of the following is a refrain?

"Tell me how old I am."

"Nobody tells me anything."

"The claws are lost somewhere."

"I am growing deaf."
9 Which best describes the extended metaphor of the mountain enviroment?

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

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
10 The phrase "Nobody tells me anything" is an instance of which of the following?

Understatement

Simile

Personification

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

The villanelle

The haiku

The sestina

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

1996

1952

1884

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

Metonymy

Simile

Metaphor

Personification
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?

Impossible to contain

Intimidatingly beautiful

Incapable of thought

Impossible to get through
15 Where does the speaker live?

Brazil

This isn't stated in the poem

Massachusetts

London
16 What does "clambering" mean?

Confusing

Climbing

Cooking

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

"stars go fly their kites."

"They say it is my fault"

"An open book confronts me"

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"
18 Who is the poem's speaker?

An unidentified elderly person

A young man addressing his beloved

An older man looking back on his life

A young woman imagining her old age
19 Which best describes the poem's major conflict?

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

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 attempt to reach the top of the mountain
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?

The Paris Review

The New Yorker

Poetry

Time
21 What does "demarcation" mean?

Division

Disagreement

Tarnish

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

Alliteration

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

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

Serene

Jolly

Anxious

Resigned
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

AABB CCDD

ABABAB CDCDCD EF

ABADACAD

It has no regular rhyme scheme
25 What is the poem's meter?

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

Iambic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

Spondaic monometer

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