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

"I start for a second"

"Tell me how old I am"

"bird-calls / dribble"
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?
4

6

8

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

Alliteration

Sibilance

Verbal irony
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?
Drunkenly

In a stumbling manner

With emphatic movements

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

Quatrains

Couplets

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

Split

Dirty

Sicken
7 What does "blench" mean?
Fall

Crush

Belch

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

"The claws are lost somewhere."

"I am growing deaf."

"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

Hyperbole

Understatement

Personification
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?
The haiku

The sestina

The sonnet

The villanelle
12 In what year was "The Mountain" first published?
1928

1996

1952

1884
13 The phrase "like cotton in my ears" is an instance of which of the following?
Personification

Simile

Metaphor

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

Impossible to get through

Incapable of thought

Intimidatingly beautiful
15 Where does the speaker live?
This isn't stated in the poem

Brazil

Massachusetts

London
16 What does "clambering" mean?
Struggling

Cooking

Climbing

Confusing
17 Which of the following is NOT an example of personification?
"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"

"They say it is my fault"

"An open book confronts me"

"stars go fly their kites."
18 Who is the poem's speaker?
A young man addressing his beloved

An unidentified elderly person

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 attempt to reach the top of the mountain

It is the speaker's struggle to maintain dignity and comfort in old age
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?
Time

The Paris Review

The New Yorker

Poetry
21 What does "demarcation" mean?
Vacation

Tarnish

Disagreement

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

Alliteration

End rhyme

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

Jolly

Serene

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

AABB CCDD

ABADACAD

ABABAB CDCDCD EF
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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