September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The painter Joseph O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary
2 How does the speaker conceive of the relationship between Irish people today and past Irish heroes?
Ireland today carries the legacy of past heroes, even those whose names are lost to history

Modern Ireland has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

Ireland's modern middle class has betrayed the heroes of the past
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Tone

Emmet

O'Leary

Fitzgerald
4 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Businesslike

Dreamy

Jocular

Bitter
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCDEF

ABBACDDC

ABBCDCD

AABBCCDD
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quatrains

Octaves

Quintains

Sestets
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Measure

Consider

Offer input

Carry
8 What is closest to a definition of the word "delirium" as used in the poem?
illness

unconsciousness

ecstasy

stupidity
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By describing their respective homes and clothes

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining them having a conversation

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
There is no assonance in this phrase

The O sound

The S sound

The short I sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Synecdoche

Personification

Alliteration

End rhyme
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Spanish Flu epidemic

Bloody Sunday

The Easter Rising

The Dublin Lock-Out
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"men were born to pray and save"

"little time had they to pray"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The first

The fourth

The third

The sixth
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

The speaker's child

O'Leary

Irish soldiers
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Simile

Alliteration

Synecdoche

Situational irony
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Luxurious material goods

Education and travel

Prayer and money

Food and wine
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Robert Emmet

The speaker

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

Ireland's children
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Assonance

Simile

Verbal Irony

Metaphor
23 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Synecdoche

Simile

Metaphor

Metonymy

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Study Guide for September 1913

September 1913 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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