The Rear-Guard Quizzes

1 Who is the speaker in "The Rear-Guard"?

An unidentified speaker who follows the progress of a soldier in an underground tunnel.

A dying soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself

A soldier
2 What collection was this poem published in?

Does it Matter?

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

War Poems

The Old Huntsman
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?

He typed it up after the war

He wrote it by hand in a diary as he recovered from wounds sustained in battle

He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches

He wrote it after the war
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?

1917

1919

1918

1916
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?

Hell

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority

Dehumanization
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?

fever dreams

shell shock

typhus

trench foot
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

singing

crying

silent

prying
8 Fill in this quote: "__ along the tunnel, step by step"

Tripping

Groping

Running

Walking
9 What does groping mean in this context?

seeing

abuse someone

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

walking slowly
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"

the heavy air

the bad quality air

the unwholesome air.

the dank dark tunnel
11 What best characterizes the kinds of objects found down in the tunnel?

Military

Technological

Domestic

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun

No Man's Land
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The battle overhead

Sleep and dreams

The surrounding darkness

The soldier's wife
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?

1916

1917

1918

1920
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Angry, embittered, hungry
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?

He savagely kicks the figure

He shouts in his face

He asks again louder

He shakes the sleeper's arm
17 What time of day is it in the poem?

Midday

Night

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is nighttime in the world above

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is dawn in the world above
18 What is in the soldier's hair?

sweat and horror

stink and grit

sweat and terror

resilience and courage
19 What is the poem's meter?

Blank verse

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)
20 What is a rear guard?

a part of a military force that protects the last line of soldiers

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the front

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear during an offensive
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?

No

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

Yes

It is during war time, but there is no active battle in the tunnel
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes and too vague to know;
23 What is alliteration?

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts

a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated

the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?

Ten days before

Months earlier

Hours earlier

In ancient times
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?

isolation

stress

hell

memories

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard