To a Shade Quizzes

To a Shade Quiz Vocabulary and Poetic Form

1 What does the word "Unquiet" mean in the poem?
Lively

Loud

Restless

Bold
2 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic Pentameter

Anapestic Pentameter

Dactylic Pentameter

Trochaic Pentameter
3 What does "open-handed" mean in the poem's context?
Transparent

Helpless

Generous

Poor
4 What does the word "insult" most closely mean in the poem's context?
Abuse

Retort

Rude statement

Defamation
5 Which of the following phrases does not feature assonance?
"foul mouth"

"insult heaped upon him"

"when the day is spent"

"given their children's children"
6 A description of houses as "gaunt" uses which device?
Apostrophe

Understatement

Personification

Simile
7 Who is the speaker?
An unidentified Dubliner

A gallerist

Charles Parnell

A gravedigger
8 Which historical person does the Shade represent?
William Gladstone

Charles Parnell

Maud Gonne

James Joyce
9 Which of the following lines breaks the poem's typical meter?
The pack upon him.

And the gaunt houses put on majesty:

And gather the Glasnevin coverlet

Whether to look upon your monument
10 What is the meaning of the word "Shade" as used in this poem?
Ghost

Curtain

Awning

Sunglasses
11 The poem as a whole is centered around which device?
Zeugma

End rhyme

Apostrophe

Anaphora
12 In which city is the poem set?
London

Manchester

Dublin

Belfast
13 What does the word "gaunt" mean?
Luxurious

Angry

Ghostly

Skinny
14 What does the word "flit" mean?
Move quickly

Lie

Gossip

Wonder
15 Which sounds create alliteration in the line "gather the Glasnevin coverlet"?
L

N

T

G
16 What does the word "lofty" mean?
Wealthy

Tall

Snobbish

High-minded
17 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Exhilarated

Wondering

Pitying

Patient
18 Which literary device appears in the phrase "Sweeter emotion, working in their veins/Like gentle blood."
Onomatopoeia

Foreshadowing

Simile

Hyperbole
19 What does the word "serving" mean in the poem's context?
Crowd-pleasing

Helpful

Selfish

Amount
20 What does the word "Glasnevin" refer to?
A cemetery

A mythological character

A holiday

A political party
21 Who is/are the poem's protagonist(s)?
Yeats

The speaker

Dublin's middle class

Parnell and Lane
22 Which of the following rhyme schemes does the poem follow?
ABACDC

ABBCDD

ABBACDDC

AABBCC
23 Which of the following lines is an instance of understatement?
"Away, away! You are safer in the tomb."

"For they are at their old tricks yet."

"About your head till the dust stops your ear,"

"And the gaunt houses put on majesty:"
24 The poem's final line, in which death is described as safer than life, features which of the following?
The line is not ironic

Dramatic irony

Verbal irony

Situational irony
25 What does the word "monument" mean?
Castle

Public Sculpture

Crown

Autobiography

To a Shade Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for To a Shade is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for To a Shade

To a Shade study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for To a Shade…