The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

Definitely Sassoon himself

A dying soldier

A soldier

An unidentified speaker who follows the progress of a soldier in an underground tunnel.
2 What collection was this poem published in?

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

Does it Matter?

The Old Huntsman

War Poems
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?

He typed it up after the war

He wrote it after the war

He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches

He wrote it by hand in a diary as he recovered from wounds sustained in battle
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?

1917

1918

1916

1919
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?

Criticizing Military Authority

The Trauma of War

Hell

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

fever dreams

trench foot

typhus

shell shock
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

crying

prying

singing

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

Tripping

Groping

Running

Walking
9 What does groping mean in this context?

seeing

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

walking slowly

abuse someone
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"

the heavy air

the unwholesome air.

the dank dark tunnel

the bad quality air
11 What best characterizes the kinds of objects found down in the tunnel?

Military

Domestic

Technological

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

No Man's Land

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun

The Hindenburg Line
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

Sleep and dreams

The battle overhead

The surrounding darkness

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

1920

1916

1917

1918
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Angry, embittered, hungry

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?

He asks again louder

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He savagely kicks the figure

He shouts in his face
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

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

Midday
18 What is in the soldier's hair?

sweat and terror

stink and grit

resilience and courage

sweat and horror
19 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Free 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?

No

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

Yes

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

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

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

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

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.
23 What is alliteration?

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

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts

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

In ancient times

Hours earlier
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?

isolation

memories

stress

hell

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard