The Yellowhammer’s Nest Quizzes

The Yellowhammer's Nest "The Yellowhammer's Nest"

1 During what century did John Clare write the majority of his poems?

Seventeenth

Twentieth

Nineteenth

Eighteenth
2 What literary movement was John Clare a part of?

Gothic

Romantic

Classical

Modernist
3 Which of the following is Clare's poetry NOT known for?

Simplicity of style

Fantasy elements

Attention to detail

Melancholy tone
4 Who were John Clare's parents?

Poor farmers

Aristocrats

Middle-class professionals

Factory workers
5 "The Yellowhammer's Nest" is a representative of what era of Clare's career?

Late career

Early career

Mid-career

Childhood writings
6 In what collection did Clare publish "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

His first collection

His final collection

He never published the poem

His second collection
7 What is a yellowhammer?

Another word for yellowjacket

A type of songbird

Slang for any singing bird

A brightly colored tool
8 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between speaker and reader in "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Tense

Rivalry

Distant

Intimate
9 What is the tense at the beginning of the poem?

Past tense

Unclear

Present tense

Future tense
10 What is ecology?

The study of biological relationships

The study of biological creatures

The study of the importance of environmental factors

The classification of biological creatures
11 Which of the following best characterizes Clare's portrayal of natural creatures?

He portrays them as intrinsically better than humans

He portrays them as beautiful decorations in the countryside

He portrays them as pests who steal the harvest

He instills them with the same emotional depth as humans
12 Which of the following is NOT an example of Clare paying unusual attention to detail?

A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams.

Its husk seeds tall and high—'tis rudely planned

Five eggs, pen-scribbled o'er with ink their shells

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,
13 What is ironic about the beginning of the poem?

The speaker feels close to the yellowhammer, even though he ends up destroying its nest

The speaker invites his companion to see the nest, even though his companion only wants to harvest berries

The speaker characterizes the stream as harmless by saying what it could harm

The yellowhammer flies off to protect itself from the cowboy, which actually allows the snake to destroy its nest
14 Which of the following is NOT a central theme of "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

The importance of friendship

Nature's capacity as a poet

The inescapability of death

The importance of little things
15 How does Clare depict the snake's attack on the nest?

As just part of the circle of life

As a tragedy

As a victory for the snake

As an example of the yellowhammer's weakness
16 What is Castalay?

A famous forest in Britain

A spring frequented by nymphs in Greek mythology

Clare's childhood home

The home of the muses in Greek mythology
17 What does Clare's allusion to Parnassus imply?

The yellowhammer's partner is a poor singer

The yellowhammer's partner is her muse

The yellowhammer's partner is the real poet

The yellowhammer's partner is a fantasy
18 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between the speaker and the yellowhammer?

The speaker sees himself and the yellowhammer as having different but complimentary strengths

The speaker sees himself as better than the yellowhammer, even though she is really more wise

The speaker admires the yellowhammer's beauty but scorns her weakness

The speaker stoops to the yellowhammer's level and sees the world from her perspective
19 Which line most closely parallels "A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams"?

Yet in the sweetest places cometh ill,

Most poet-like where brooks and flowery weeds

And mournful hath the little warblers sung

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—
20 Which of the following is NOT true of the snake attack as Clare describes it?

It has already happened

It is a tragedy

It is all-consuming

It is a possibility
21 Thinking about "The Yellowhammer's Nest" as a whole, which of the following best describes its mood?

Bittersweet

Cheerful

Disinterested

Tragic
22 What is the meter of "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Iambic tetrameter (each line is made up of four pairs of one unstressed and one stressed syllable)

Trochaic tetrameter (each line is made up of four pairs of one stressed and one unstressed syllable)

Trochaic pentameter (each line is made up of five pairs of one stressed and one unstressed syllable)

Iambic pentameter (each line is made up of five pairs of one unstressed and one stressed syllable)
23 What is the rhyme scheme of "The Yellowhammer's Nest?"

ABACBCDD

ABABCDCC

ABAB

No fixed rhyme scheme
24 Which of the following contains a metaphor?

When such like woes hath rent its little breast.

Five eggs, pen-scribbled o'er with ink their shells

And like as though the plague became a guest,

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill
25 Which of the following is an example of allusion?

And like as though the plague became a guest,

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

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