The Rear-Guard Quizzes

The Rear-Guard Quiz

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

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

A soldier

A dying soldier
2 What collection was this poem published in?
The Old Huntsman

Does it Matter?

War Poems

Counter-Attack and Other Poems
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?
1918

1919

1916

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

Dehumanization

Hell

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

fever dreams

trench foot

typhus
7 How is the soldier's torch described?
silent

crying

prying

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

Walking

Tripping

Groping
9 What does groping mean in this context?
seeing

walking slowly

abuse someone

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"
the bad quality air

the unwholesome air.

the heavy air

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

Domestic

Ancient

Military
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?
No Man's Land

Verdun

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel
13 What is romanticized in the poem?
Sleep and dreams

The soldier's wife

The battle overhead

The surrounding darkness
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?
1917

1918

1916

1920
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?
Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Angry, embittered, hungry

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

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

He savagely kicks the figure

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He shouts in his face
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 terror

resilience and courage

stink and grit

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

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Iambic pentameter
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 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 it from attack from the front
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?
No

Yes

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

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.”

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

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

a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?
Months earlier

In ancient times

Ten days before

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

stress

hell

isolation

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Study Guide for The Rear-Guard

The Rear-Guard study guide contains a biography of Siegfried Sassoon, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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