September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The painter Joseph 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

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

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
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?

O'Leary

Tone

Fitzgerald

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

Jocular

Businesslike

Bitter

Dreamy
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBACDDC

ABCDEF

AABBCCDD

ABBCDCD
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?

Quintains

Quatrains

Sestets

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

Carry

Consider

Offer input

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"?

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

By imagining them having a conversation

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

There is no assonance in this phrase

The short I sound

The S sound

The O sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland
13 When did Robert Emmet die?

In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?

Synecdoche

Alliteration

Personification

End rhyme
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?

The Easter Rising

Bloody Sunday

The Spanish Flu epidemic

The Dublin Lock-Out
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"men were born to pray and save"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

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

The first

The third

The sixth

The fourth
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?

Irish soldiers

The speaker's child

O'Leary

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?

Alliteration

Situational irony

Synecdoche

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

Education and travel

Prayer and money

Food and wine

Luxurious material goods
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?

The speaker

Ireland's children

Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?

Simile

Verbal Irony

Metaphor

Assonance
23 What is this poem's meter?

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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

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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