To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1859

1936

1912

1889
2 Where was Housman born?
Paris

Worcestershire

London

Shropshire
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Cambridge

Oxford

University College, London

Housman did not attend university
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Consistently poor

Promising but disappointing

Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Immediately became a professor

Earned a Ph.D.

Married his wife

Worked as a clerk
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His academic work

His political activism

His family

His poetry
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Giving advice to writers

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published

Reconstructing classic texts
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most are autobiographical

Most employ a flowery style

Most are about athletes

Most feature rural narrators
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?
Frustrated

Erotic

Ironic

Melancholic
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 close friend of the runner

A member of the community

A complete stranger

Housman himself
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?
Third person close

First person singular

Third person distant

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And set you at your threshold down

And hold to the low lintel up

The fleet foot on the sill of shade
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to hold onto life

For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to come back from the death

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

Neoclassical

Romantic

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

Minimalist

Extensive

Emotive
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?
Use of iambic meter

Depiction of the afterlife

Focus on honor

Stripped-down style
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The pointlessness of fame

The joy of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As a period of eternal punishment

As a continuation of life

As a closing off from the world of the living

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

The Iliad

The Bible

The Odyssey
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?
Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is inferior to femininity
23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead?
It will be false

It will diminish his strength of character

It will only come when he is old

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

A shady place

A deep sleep

An architectural space
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a kind of death

As a minor problem

As the runner's fault

As a kind of freedom

To an Athlete Dying Young Questions and Answers

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

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for To an Athlete Dying Young

To an Athlete Dying Young study guide contains a biography of A. E. Housman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for To an Athlete Dying Young…