To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?

1936

1912

1859

1889
2 Where was Housman born?

Paris

Shropshire

Worcestershire

London
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

Consistently poor

Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling
5 What did Housman do after graduating?

Worked as a clerk

Married his wife

Earned a Ph.D.

Immediately became a professor
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?

Giving advice to writers

Determining which poems should be published

Reconstructing classic texts

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 about athletes

Most are autobiographical

Most employ a flowery style
9 How did Housman see poetry?

As a way of better understanding the classics

As a means of depicting beauty

As an expression of feeling

As an intellectual game
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?

Melancholic

Frustrated

Erotic

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

Five and seven

One and seven

Six and seven

One and two
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?

A complete stranger

Housman himself

A member of the community

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

Third person close

Third person distant

First person singular

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

And set you at your threshold down

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

And hold to the low lintel up

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
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?

Neoclassical

Gothic

Modernist

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

Emotive

Minimalist

Extensive

Descriptive
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 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 period of eternal punishment

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
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?

The Iliad

The Aeneiad

The Bible

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?

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

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 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

An architectural space

A shady place

A lost race
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

As a minor problem

As a kind of freedom

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