Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

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

Regretful

Aloof

Aggressive

Gleeful
2 What does "thereupon" mean?

Right after

On top of

Supposedly

Therefore
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

Paradise Lost

Irish folklore

The parables of Jesus

The Book of Genesis
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?

As beautiful and kind

As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated

As sluggish and weary
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?

People in charge of institutions

Underlying principles

Comforting narratives

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

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of twenty couplets

It consists of a single forty-line stanza
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

Maud Gonne

Augusta Gregory

W.B. Yeats

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

ABABCDCD

ABBACDDCEFFE

AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme
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?

Trochaic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic trimeter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

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

The Tower

The Winding Stair

The Wanderings of Oisin

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

A poor person

A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person

A poet
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?

1921

1900

1903

1914
16 When does the work take place?

Christmas afternoon

The middle of the night

Early spring

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

Physically far from the ground

Intoxicated

Elevated

Wealthy
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?

The art of reading the Bible

The art of writing poetry

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

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

Synecdoche

Metonymy

Understatement

Personification
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Drops of water from a fountain

The embers of a fire

A dream that has been forgotten

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

The speaker

The addressee

The friend

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

Childbearing

Farming

Hunting

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?

Love

Poetry

Childhood

Physical beauty
25 What does the moon symbolize?

The omnipresence of the divine

The eternal beauty of nature

The light and redemption found in dark times

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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