To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

To an Athlete Dying Young "To an Athlete Dying Young"

1 When was A. E. Housman born?

1859

1889

1936

1912
2 Where was Housman born?

Worcestershire

Shropshire

Paris

London
3 Where did Housman attend university?

Oxford

Cambridge

Housman did not attend university

University College, London
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?

Dazzling

Consistently poor

Promising but disappointing

Unmotivated but brilliant
5 What did Housman do after graduating?

Married his wife

Worked as a clerk

Immediately became a professor

Earned a Ph.D.
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?

His political activism

His family

His poetry

His academic work
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?

Reconstructing classic texts

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Giving advice to writers

Determining which poems should be published
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?

Most are autobiographical

Most feature rural narrators

Most are about athletes

Most employ a flowery style
9 How did Housman see poetry?

As an expression of feeling

As an intellectual game

As a means of depicting beauty

As a way of better understanding the classics
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?

Ironic

Erotic

Melancholic

Frustrated
11 Which two stanzas of "To an Athlete Dying Young" most closely parallel one another?

Six and seven

Five and seven

One and two

One and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?

A member of the community

Housman himself

A complete stranger

A close friend of the runner
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?

First person singular

Third person close

Third person distant

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

And set you at your threshold down

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And hold to the low lintel up
15 What does the speaker want?

For the runner to hold onto life

For the runner to come back from the death

For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to defend his title
16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble?

Neoclassical

Modernist

Romantic

Gothic
17 Which of the following best describes Housman's diction in "To an Athlete"?

Descriptive

Emotive

Minimalist

Extensive
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?

Focus on honor

Depiction of the afterlife

Stripped-down style

Use of iambic meter
19 What does the laural symbolize?

The eternal glory of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?

As a continuation of life

As a closing off from the world of the living

As a period of eternal punishment

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?

The Odyssey

The Iliad

The Bible

The Aeneiad
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?

The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny
23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead?

It will diminish his strength of character

It will only come when he is old

It will be false

It will be short-lived
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?

An architectural space

A deep sleep

A lost race

A shady place
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?

As a kind of freedom

As a minor problem

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

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