Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Aggressive

Regretful

Gleeful

Aloof
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

On top of

Supposedly

Right after

Therefore
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 sluggish and weary

As beautiful and kind

As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?

Comforting narratives

People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles

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

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets

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

Maud Gonne

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

W.B. Yeats
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBACDDCEFFE

AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

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

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a soldier

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

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter

Trochaic pentameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?

In the Seven Woods

The Tower

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?

A poor person

A poet

A very old person

A person who works in a kitchen
14 What does the word "idler" mean?

A member of the clergy

An artist

A lazy person

A sick person
15 When was this poem published?

1921

1903

1900

1914
16 When does the work take place?

Early spring

Christmas afternoon

A summer evening

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

Wealthy

Intoxicated

Elevated

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

The art of writing poetry

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

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?

Metonymy

Synecdoche

Understatement

Personification
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Coins in a pocket

A dream that has been forgotten

Drops of water from a fountain

The embers of a fire
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

Sewing

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

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

It is written in the second person

It is a sonnet

It switches speakers several times
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?

Poetry

Childhood

Love

Physical beauty
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The eternal beauty of nature

The light and redemption found in dark times

The speaker's cynicism about love

The omnipresence of the divine

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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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