The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

A soldier

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

A dying soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself
2 What collection was this poem published in?

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

War Poems

The Old Huntsman

Does it Matter?
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?

He wrote it after the war

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

He typed it up after the war

He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?

1916

1919

1918

1917
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?

Dehumanization

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority

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

fever dreams

trench foot

shell shock

typhus
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

singing

crying

silent

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

Groping

Running

Walking

Tripping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

abuse someone

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

seeing

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

the unwholesome air.

the heavy air

the bad quality air

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

Domestic

Technological

Military

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

No Man's Land

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The surrounding darkness

The battle overhead

The soldier's wife

Sleep and dreams
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?

1917

1916

1918

1920
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

Angry, embittered, hungry

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He asks again louder

He shouts in his face

He savagely kicks the figure
17 What time of day is it in the poem?

Night

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

Midday

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

sweat and terror

sweat and horror

stink and grit

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

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

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

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 the last line of soldiers

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?

Yes

It is during war time, but there is no active battle in the tunnel

No

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?

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

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes and too vague to know;

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tripping, he grabbed the wall
23 What is alliteration?

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

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts

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

Hours earlier

Months earlier

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

stress

isolation

hell

memories

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard