To a Shade Quizzes

To a Shade Quiz Vocabulary and Poetic Form

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

Loud

Lively

Restless

Bold
2 What is this poem's meter?

Anapestic Pentameter

Iambic Pentameter

Dactylic Pentameter

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

Poor

Transparent

Generous

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

Rude statement

Retort

Defamation

Abuse
5 Which of the following phrases does not feature assonance?

"given their children's children"

"when the day is spent"

"insult heaped upon him"

"foul mouth"
6 A description of houses as "gaunt" uses which device?

Simile

Apostrophe

Understatement

Personification
7 Who is the speaker?

A gravedigger

A gallerist

An unidentified Dubliner

Charles Parnell
8 Which historical person does the Shade represent?

James Joyce

Maud Gonne

William Gladstone

Charles Parnell
9 Which of the following lines breaks the poem's typical meter?

The pack upon him.

Whether to look upon your monument

And gather the Glasnevin coverlet

And the gaunt houses put on majesty:
10 What is the meaning of the word "Shade" as used in this poem?

Ghost

Sunglasses

Curtain

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

Zeugma

Apostrophe

End rhyme

Anaphora
12 In which city is the poem set?

Belfast

Dublin

London

Manchester
13 What does the word "gaunt" mean?

Luxurious

Angry

Ghostly

Skinny
14 What does the word "flit" mean?

Lie

Wonder

Move quickly

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

G

N

L

T
16 What does the word "lofty" mean?

Snobbish

Wealthy

High-minded

Tall
17 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?

Patient

Wondering

Exhilarated

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

Simile

Onomatopoeia

Hyperbole

Foreshadowing
19 What does the word "serving" mean in the poem's context?

Crowd-pleasing

Amount

Helpful

Selfish
20 What does the word "Glasnevin" refer to?

A cemetery

A mythological character

A political party

A holiday
21 Who is/are the poem's protagonist(s)?

Dublin's middle class

Yeats

The speaker

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

ABBCDD

ABBACDDC

AABBCC

ABACDC
23 Which of the following lines is an instance of understatement?

"Away, away! You are safer in the tomb."

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

"For they are at their old tricks yet."

"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?

Situational irony

The line is not ironic

Verbal irony

Dramatic irony
25 What does the word "monument" mean?

Autobiography

Public Sculpture

Crown

Castle

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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.

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