To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1936

1889

1912

1859
2 Where was Housman born?
Shropshire

Worcestershire

Paris

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

Housman did not attend university

Oxford

Cambridge
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Unmotivated but brilliant

Promising but disappointing

Dazzling

Consistently poor
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Married his wife

Immediately became a professor

Earned a Ph.D.

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

His family

His poetry

His political activism
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Reconstructing classic texts

Determining which poems should be published

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Giving advice to writers
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 a way of better understanding the classics

As an expression of feeling

As a means of depicting beauty

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

Melancholic

Ironic

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

One and two

Five and seven

Six 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 distant

First person singular

Third person close

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

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

And hold to the low lintel up

And set you at your threshold down
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to defend his title

For the runner to come back from the death

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

Gothic

Romantic

Neoclassical
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?
Depiction of the afterlife

Use of iambic meter

Stripped-down style

Focus on honor
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 closing off from the world of the living

As a continuation of life

As a period of eternal punishment
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Iliad

The Aeneiad

The Odyssey

The Bible
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?
Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

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 be short-lived

It will diminish his strength of character

It will be false

It will only come when he is old
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?
A shady place

A deep sleep

An architectural space

A lost race
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a kind of death

As a kind of freedom

As a minor problem

As the runner's fault

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