Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Aggressive

Gleeful

Aloof
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

On top of

Therefore

Right after

Supposedly
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

The parables of Jesus

Paradise Lost

The Book of Genesis

Irish folklore
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?

As fiery and opinionated

As beautiful and kind

As sluggish and weary

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

Comforting narratives

Underlying principles

People in charge of institutions

Prior examples
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

Augusta Gregory

W.B. Yeats

Maud Gonne

Georgiana Hyde-Lees
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDCEFFE
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a soldier

The speaker is a mother
10 What is the poem's meter?

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic hexameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair

The Tower

In the Seven Woods
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?

A person who works in a kitchen

A poor person

A poet

A very old person
14 What does the word "idler" mean?

A member of the clergy

A sick person

A lazy person

An artist
15 When was this poem published?

1900

1921

1914

1903
16 When does the work take place?

A summer evening

Early spring

Christmas afternoon

The middle of the night
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?

Elevated

Intoxicated

Wealthy

Physically far from the ground
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of writing poetry

The art of understanding nature

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

Synecdoche

Understatement

Metonymy

Personification
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket

The embers of a fire

A dream that has been forgotten
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?

The friend

The speaker

The addressee

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

Hunting

Childbearing

Sewing

Farming
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?

It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is written in the second person

It is a sonnet
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?

Physical beauty

Poetry

Childhood

Love
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The omnipresence of the divine

The eternal beauty of nature

The speaker's cynicism about love

The light and redemption found in dark times

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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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