To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1889

1936

1859

1912
2 Where was Housman born?
Paris

Shropshire

London

Worcestershire
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Oxford

University College, London

Cambridge

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

Dazzling

Unmotivated but brilliant

Promising but disappointing
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Earned a Ph.D.

Worked as a clerk

Immediately became a professor

Married his wife
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His academic work

His family

His political activism

His poetry
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Determining which poems should be published

Giving advice to writers

Fact-checking things in newspapers

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

Most are about athletes

Most feature rural narrators

Most employ a flowery style
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As an expression of feeling

As a means of depicting beauty

As an intellectual game

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

Frustrated

Melancholic

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

Six and seven

One and seven

Five and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
A complete stranger

A member of the community

Housman himself

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

Third person distant

Third person close

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
The fleet foot on the sill of shade

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And hold to the low lintel up

And set you at your threshold down
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to defend his title

For the runner to embrace death

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?
Romantic

Modernist

Gothic

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

Extensive

Minimalist

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

Stripped-down style

Use of iambic meter

Focus on honor
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The eternal glory of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The pointlessness of fame

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

As a continuation of life

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded

As a closing off from the world of the living
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Bible

The Odyssey

The Iliad

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?
Masculinity is tragically short-lived

The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

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 be short-lived

It will be false

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

A lost race

An architectural space

A shady place
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As the runner's fault

As a kind of death

As a minor problem

As a kind of freedom

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