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

The Old Huntsman

War Poems

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

He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches

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 after the war
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?

The Trauma of War

Hell

Criticizing Military Authority

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

trench foot

shell shock

fever dreams

typhus
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

silent

crying

prying

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

Tripping

Walking

Running

Groping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

seeing

abuse someone

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

the unwholesome air.

the dank dark tunnel

the heavy air

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

Military

Ancient

Domestic

Technological
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

Verdun

No Man's Land

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The soldier's wife

The surrounding darkness

The battle overhead

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

1918

1920

1916

1917
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 shakes the sleeper's arm

He savagely kicks the figure

He asks again louder

He shouts in his face
17 What time of day is it in the poem?

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

Midday

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

Night
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?

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Free verse
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 the last line of soldiers

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

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

No
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

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

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

Hours earlier

Months earlier

In ancient times

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

hell

memories

isolation

stress

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard