September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

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

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The mythical Irish warrior 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

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

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

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

O'Leary

Fitzgerald

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

Jocular

Bitter

Businesslike

Dreamy
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBCDCD

ABCDEF

AABBCCDD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?

Quintains

Sestets

Quatrains

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

Consider

Measure

Offer input

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

ecstasy

unconsciousness

illness

stupidity
9 Who were the "wild geese"?

Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin
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 describing their respective homes and clothes

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?

The short I sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The O sound

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

That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That Romantic Ireland is dead

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

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

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?

End rhyme

Personification

Alliteration

Synecdoche
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?

"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 sixth

The first

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?

Synecdoche

Simile

Alliteration

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

Education and travel

Luxurious material goods

Prayer and money

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

Robert Emmet

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

Ireland's children

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

Metaphor

Simile

Assonance

Verbal Irony
23 What is this poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Anapestic trimeter

Trochaic hexameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century

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

A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

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

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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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