The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

A soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself

A dying soldier

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

The Old Huntsman

War Poems

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

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

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

He wrote it after the war

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?

1919

1916

1917

1918
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?

Hell

The Trauma of War

Dehumanization

Criticizing Military Authority
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?

trench foot

typhus

shell shock

fever dreams
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

crying

prying

singing

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

Walking

Groping

Running

Tripping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

walking slowly

abuse someone

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

seeing
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"

the dank dark tunnel

the bad quality air

the unwholesome air.

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

Domestic

Ancient

Technological

Military
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun

No Man's Land

The Hindenburg Line
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The battle overhead

Sleep and dreams

The soldier's wife

The surrounding darkness
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?

1917

1918

1920

1916
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 asks again louder

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He shouts in his face

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

Midday

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

Night

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

resilience and courage

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

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Free verse

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter
20 What is a rear guard?

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

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 front
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

Yes

No

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

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

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

“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”
23 What is alliteration?

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

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
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?

In ancient times

Hours earlier

Months earlier

Ten days before
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?

hell

stress

isolation

memories

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard