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

1912

1859
2 Where was Housman born?

London

Worcestershire

Paris

Shropshire
3 Where did Housman attend university?

Housman did not attend university

Cambridge

Oxford

University College, London
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?

Promising but disappointing

Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling

Consistently poor
5 What did Housman do after graduating?

Worked as a clerk

Earned a Ph.D.

Married his wife

Immediately became a professor
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?

His poetry

His academic work

His family

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

Reconstructing classic texts

Determining which poems should be published

Giving advice to writers

Fact-checking things in newspapers
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?

Most feature rural narrators

Most are autobiographical

Most are about athletes

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?

Melancholic

Erotic

Frustrated

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

One and seven

Five and seven

One and two

Six and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?

A close friend of the runner

Housman himself

A complete stranger

A member of the community
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?

First person singular

Third person close

Third person distant

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?

And hold to the low lintel up

And set you at your threshold down

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
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 hold onto life

For the runner to defend his title
16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble?

Neoclassical

Romantic

Modernist

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

Extensive

Minimalist

Emotive

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

Use of iambic meter

Focus on honor

Depiction of the afterlife

Stripped-down style
19 What does the laural symbolize?

The eternal glory of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The joy of fame

The ephemerality of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?

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

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

The Bible

The Aeneiad

The Iliad

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?

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

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 false

It will diminish his strength of character

It will only come when he is old

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

An architectural space

A lost race

A shady place

A deep sleep
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?

As a minor problem

As the runner's fault

As a kind of death

As a kind of freedom

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