Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

1 Which of the following best describes the poem's tone?
Regretful

Aloof

Gleeful

Aggressive
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
On top of

Therefore

Supposedly

Right after
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
Paradise Lost

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore

The parables of Jesus
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As beautiful and kind

As sluggish and weary

As fiery and opinionated

As clever and critical
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
Comforting narratives

Underlying principles

Prior examples

People in charge of institutions
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?
It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?
W.B. Yeats

Augusta Gregory

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

Maud Gonne
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABABCDCD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDCEFFE
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?
The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a soldier

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a banker
10 What is the poem's meter?
Dactylic trimeter

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
The Wanderings of Oisin

The Tower

The Winding Stair

In the Seven Woods
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A very old person

A person who works in a kitchen

A poet

A poor person
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
A lazy person

An artist

A sick person

A member of the clergy
15 When was this poem published?
1914

1921

1900

1903
16 When does the work take place?
Early spring

The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon

A summer evening
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?
Wealthy

Physically far from the ground

Elevated

Intoxicated
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?
The art of understanding nature

The art of writing poetry

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible
19 The line "I had a thought for no one’s but your ears" contains which device?
Understatement

Synecdoche

Metonymy

Personification
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?
The embers of a fire

A dream that has been forgotten

Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The addressee

The speaker

The friend

All of the above—the characters sit in silent reflection
22 The speaker compares poetry to which of the following?
Childbearing

Hunting

Farming

Sewing
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?
It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It switches speakers several times

It is a sonnet

It is written in the second person
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?
Poetry

Childhood

Physical beauty

Love
25 What does the moon symbolize?
The light and redemption found in dark times

The eternal beauty of nature

The omnipresence of the divine

The speaker's cynicism about love

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Study Guide for Adam’s Curse

Adam's Curse study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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