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

Paris

Shropshire

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

Housman did not attend university

Cambridge

Oxford
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Dazzling

Unmotivated but brilliant

Consistently poor

Promising but disappointing
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Immediately became a professor

Earned a Ph.D.

Worked as a clerk

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

His family

His political activism

His academic work
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Reconstructing classic texts

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published

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

Most are autobiographical

Most employ a flowery style

Most feature rural narrators
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As a way of better understanding the classics

As an intellectual game

As a means of depicting beauty

As an expression of feeling
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Frustrated

Ironic

Melancholic

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

One and seven

One and two

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

Housman himself

A close friend of the runner

A complete stranger
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"?
And hold to the low lintel up

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

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

For the runner to defend his title

For the runner to embrace death

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

Neoclassical

Romantic

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

Descriptive

Extensive

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 joy of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory 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 Bible

The Odyssey

The Iliad
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

The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

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 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?
An architectural space

A deep sleep

A shady place

A lost race
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

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