The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following is an instance of metaphor?
"Tell me how old I am"

"I start for a second"

The poem contains no metaphors

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

4

9

6
3 The phrase "fly their kites" contains which of the following?
Alliteration

Verbal irony

Sibilance

Assonance
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?
With emphatic movements

Drunkenly

In a stumbling manner

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

Sestets

Quatrains

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

Fall

Sicken

Split
7 What does "blench" mean?
Crush

Flinch

Fall

Belch
8 Which of the following is a refrain?
"Tell me how old I am."

"I am growing deaf."

"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 dangerous landscape representing illness and death

It is a paradisal space representing heaven

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

Simile

Understatement
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?
The sestina

The sonnet

The haiku

The villanelle
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?
Simile

Metaphor

Metonymy

Personification
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?
Incapable of thought

Impossible to get through

Intimidatingly beautiful

Impossible to contain
15 Where does the speaker live?
This isn't stated in the poem

London

Massachusetts

Brazil
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"

"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 man addressing his beloved

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 discussion with her past self as she grows old

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

It is the speaker's argument with her daughter about living together
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?
Time

Poetry

The Paris Review

The New Yorker
21 What does "demarcation" mean?
Division

Tarnish

Disagreement

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

Alliteration

Assonance

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

Jolly

Resigned

Serene
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
It has no regular rhyme scheme

ABADACAD

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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