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

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

Ireland's modern middle class has betrayed the heroes of the past

Ireland today carries the legacy of past heroes, even those whose names are lost to history
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Tone

Fitzgerald

O'Leary

Emmet
4 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Bitter

Jocular

Dreamy

Businesslike
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBACDDC

ABCDEF

ABBCDCD

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

Quintains

Sestets

Octaves
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Offer input

Carry

Consider

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

ecstasy

illness

unconsciousness
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 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

By describing their respective homes and clothes
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The short I sound

The S sound

The O sound

There is no assonance in this phrase
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That Romantic Ireland is dead
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

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

End rhyme

Alliteration

Synecdoche
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Easter Rising

The Spanish Flu epidemic

Bloody Sunday

The Dublin Lock-Out
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"men were born to pray and save"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"little time had they to pray"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The fourth

The sixth

The first

The third
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
Irish soldiers

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

The speaker's child

O'Leary
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Situational irony

Synecdoche

Alliteration

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

Food and wine

Prayer and money

Education and travel
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Ireland's children

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

Robert Emmet

The speaker
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Verbal Irony

Metaphor

Assonance

Simile
23 What is this poem's meter?
Iambic tetrameter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Anapestic trimeter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Metaphor

Synecdoche

Simile

Metonymy

September 1913 Questions and Answers

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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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