Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Aggressive

Aloof

Regretful
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Right after

Therefore

Supposedly

On top of
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
Paradise Lost

Irish folklore

The Book of Genesis

The parables of Jesus
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?
Underlying principles

People in charge of institutions

Comforting narratives

Prior examples
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?
It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

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?
W.B. Yeats

Maud Gonne

Augusta Gregory

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

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABABCDCD

AABBCCDD
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?
The speaker is a soldier

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a banker

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

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter

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

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To return to prelapsarian paradise
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
In the Seven Woods

The Tower

The Winding Stair

The Wanderings of Oisin
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A poet

A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person

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

A sick person

A lazy person

A member of the clergy
15 When was this poem published?
1900

1903

1921

1914
16 When does the work take place?
Early spring

Christmas afternoon

The middle of the night

A summer evening
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?
Physically far from the ground

Intoxicated

Wealthy

Elevated
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?
Personification

Understatement

Metonymy

Synecdoche
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?
Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket

A dream that has been forgotten

The embers of a fire
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The speaker

The friend

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 is a sonnet

It is written in the second person

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

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 speaker's cynicism about love

The omnipresence of the divine

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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