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

"Tell me how old I am"

"I start for a second"

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

6

4

8

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

Sibilance

Verbal irony

Assonance

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

In a stumbling manner

With emphatic movements

Unbelievably

Drunkenly
5 What types of stanzas make up this poem?

Sestets

Couplets

Quatrains

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

Sicken

Fall

Split

Dirty
7 What does "blench" mean?

Crush

Fall

Flinch

Belch
8 Which of the following is a refrain?

"I am growing deaf."

"Tell me how old I am."

"The claws are lost somewhere."

"Nobody tells me anything."
9 Which best describes the extended metaphor of the mountain enviroment?

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 paradisal space representing heaven

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

Simile

Personification

Understatement

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

The sestina

The villanelle

The sonnet

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

1884

1996

1928

1952
13 The phrase "like cotton in my ears" is an instance of which of the following?

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Metonymy
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?

Impossible to get through

Incapable of thought

Impossible to contain

Intimidatingly beautiful
15 Where does the speaker live?

Massachusetts

Brazil

London

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

Cooking

Confusing

Struggling

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

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"

"An open book confronts me"

"They say it is my fault"

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

A young man addressing his beloved

An older man looking back on his life

A young woman imagining her old age

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

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 argument with her daughter about living together

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

Poetry

Time

The Paris Review
21 What does "demarcation" mean?

Vacation

Tarnish

Division

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

Alliteration

Onomatopoeia

Assonance

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

Resigned

Serene

Anxious

Jolly
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABADACAD

It has no regular rhyme scheme

AABB CCDD

ABABAB CDCDCD EF
25 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

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

Spondaic monometer

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