September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William 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

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

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

Fitzgerald

Emmet

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

Jocular

Dreamy

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

ABCDEF

ABBACDDC

ABBCDCD
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quintains

Quatrains

Octaves

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

Consider

Carry

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

ecstasy

unconsciousness

stupidity
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By imagining them having a conversation

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin

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 O sound

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

That Romantic Ireland is dead
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?
Personification

End rhyme

Synecdoche

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

The Dublin Lock-Out

Bloody Sunday

The Easter Rising
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?
Situational irony

Simile

Synecdoche

Alliteration
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Education and travel

Food and wine

Prayer and money

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

Robert Emmet

Ireland's children

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?
Verbal Irony

Simile

Assonance

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

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter
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

Metonymy

Metaphor

Simile

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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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