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?
Worcestershire

Shropshire

Paris

London
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Cambridge

University College, London

Oxford

Housman did not attend university
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling

Promising but disappointing

Consistently poor
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Earned a Ph.D.

Immediately became a professor

Married his wife

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

Giving advice to writers

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published
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 a way of better understanding the classics

As an expression of feeling

As an intellectual game

As a means of depicting beauty
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Melancholic

Frustrated

Ironic

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

Six and seven

One and two

One and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
A member of the community

A close friend of the runner

Housman himself

A complete stranger
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?
Third person distant

First person singular

First person plural

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

And hold to the low lintel up

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And set you at your threshold down
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"?
Extensive

Descriptive

Minimalist

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

Use of iambic meter

Depiction of the afterlife

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

The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory 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 the time when one's good deeds are rewarded

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?
The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Masculinity is tragically short-lived
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 shady place

A deep sleep

A lost race

An architectural space
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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