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

1859

1912
2 Where was Housman born?
Shropshire

Worcestershire

London

Paris
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Oxford

University College, London

Housman did not attend university

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

Dazzling

Unmotivated but brilliant

Consistently poor
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Immediately became a professor

Worked as a clerk

Married his wife

Earned a Ph.D.
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His family

His academic work

His political activism

His poetry
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Giving advice to writers

Determining which poems should be published

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Reconstructing classic texts
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most feature rural narrators

Most are autobiographical

Most employ a flowery style

Most are about athletes
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As a way of better understanding the classics

As an intellectual game

As an expression of feeling

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

Melancholic

Frustrated

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

One and seven

Five and seven

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

A complete stranger

Housman himself

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

First person singular

Third person distant

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

And set you at your threshold down

And hold to the low lintel up

The fleet foot on the sill of shade
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?
Gothic

Romantic

Neoclassical

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

Minimalist

Extensive

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

Use of iambic meter

Depiction of the afterlife

Stripped-down style
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As a continuation of life

As a period of eternal punishment

As a closing off from the world of the living

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded
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?
The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

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 be short-lived

It will only come when he is old

It will be false

It will diminish his strength of character
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?
A shady place

An architectural space

A deep sleep

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

As a kind of freedom

As a kind of death

As a minor problem

To an Athlete Dying Young Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for To an Athlete Dying Young is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for To an Athlete Dying Young

To an Athlete Dying Young study guide contains a biography of A. E. Housman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for To an Athlete Dying Young…