To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1936

1859

1889

1912
2 Where was Housman born?
London

Worcestershire

Shropshire

Paris
3 Where did Housman attend university?
University College, London

Oxford

Housman did not attend university

Cambridge
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Consistently poor

Dazzling

Promising but disappointing

Unmotivated but brilliant
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Married his wife

Earned a Ph.D.

Immediately became a professor

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

His academic work

His political activism

His poetry
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published

Reconstructing classic texts

Giving advice to writers
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most are autobiographical

Most employ a flowery style

Most feature rural narrators

Most are about athletes
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As a means of depicting beauty

As a way of better understanding the classics

As an expression of feeling

As an intellectual game
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Erotic

Ironic

Melancholic

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

One and two

Six and seven

Five and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
Housman himself

A member of the community

A complete stranger

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

Third person distant

First person singular

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
And hold to the low lintel up

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And set you at your threshold down

The fleet foot on the sill of shade
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to come back from the death

For the runner to defend his title

For the runner to hold onto life
16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble?
Neoclassical

Gothic

Modernist

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

Extensive

Descriptive

Emotive
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?
Stripped-down style

Depiction of the afterlife

Focus on honor

Use of iambic meter
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The pointlessness of fame

The eternal glory of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded

As a period of eternal punishment

As a continuation of life

As a closing off from the world of the living
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

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

The runner was in touch with his feminine side
23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead?
It will only come when he is old

It will be false

It will diminish his strength of character

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

An architectural space

A lost race

A shady place
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a kind of freedom

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

As a minor problem

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