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

Supposedly

Right after

Therefore
3 What is the poem's central allusion?

Paradise Lost

The parables of Jesus

Irish folklore

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

As fiery and opinionated

As sluggish and weary

As beautiful and kind

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 longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of twenty couplets
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?

W.B. Yeats

Augusta Gregory

Maud Gonne

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

AABBCCDD

ABABCDCD

ABBACDDCEFFE

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme
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?

Dactylic trimeter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic hexameter

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

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

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

The Wanderings of Oisin

The Winding Stair

In the Seven Woods

The Tower
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?

A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person

A poor person

A poet
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?

1921

1914

1903

1900
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 understanding nature

The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible

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

Personification

Metonymy

Understatement

Synecdoche
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?

Coins in a pocket

Drops of water from a fountain

The embers of a fire

A dream that has been forgotten
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

Hunting

Sewing

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

It is written in the second person

It switches speakers several times

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories

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

Poetry

Physical beauty

Love

Childhood
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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