September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William 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 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
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?

Emmet

Fitzgerald

O'Leary

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

Dreamy

Bitter

Businesslike

Jocular
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBACDDC

AABBCCDD

ABBCDCD

ABCDEF
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?

Sestets

Octaves

Quintains

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

Offer input

Carry

Measure

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

stupidity

unconsciousness

ecstasy

illness
9 Who were the "wild geese"?

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties
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 how a single city has changed over the centuries

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"?

The O sound

The S sound

The short I sound

There is no assonance in this phrase
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent
13 When did Robert Emmet die?

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

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?

End rhyme

Alliteration

Personification

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?

"little time had they to pray"

"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"men were born to pray and save"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?

The third

The fourth

The sixth

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

The speaker's child

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

O'Leary

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

Simile

Synecdoche

Alliteration

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

Food and wine

Prayer and money

Luxurious material goods

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?

Metaphor

Verbal Irony

Simile

Assonance
23 What is this poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

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

Metonymy

Metaphor

September 1913 Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for September 1913 is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for September 1913…