Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

1 What birds are mentioned at the poem's beginning and end?
Swallows

Sparrows

Starlings

Blue Jays
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Enraged

Nostalgic

Elegiac

Comedic
3 What religious imagery appears in the poem?
A painted icon

Stained glass

A small church built from logs

A wooden cross
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
They are silent and unmoving

They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death

Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences

They verbally express hopeful camaraderie to one another
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In a battlefield hospital

In a field in the aftermath of a battle

In a tactical meeting

In the middle of a gunfight
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances

The soldiers' grim determination to win

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
A whaling ship

A town in Massachusetts

The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A battle during the Civil War
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
The signing of a treaty

Flying swallows

The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers

Soldiers returning home
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
The aftermath of war

The history of a navy yard

Southern aristocratic values

A historical reckoning with slavery
10 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
Bayonets

April rain

A church

Swallows
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A bitter stalement

A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A Union surrender

A key victory for the Union
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Robert E. Lee

Battlefield medics

Anonymous soldiers

Ulysses S. Grant
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
The struggle of growing up

A soldier's suppression of commonalities

The senseless carnage of war

The collapse of a soldier's individual identity
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"

"The swallows fly low"

"The forest-field of Shiloh-"

"Through the pause of night"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

"The church so lone, the log built one,"

"While over them the swallows skim,"

"Over the field in clouded days,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Fearful and shaky

Graceful and light

Stealthy and fast

Dangerous and violent
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
There isn't one

ABAC

ABAB

AABB
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Rainy and somber

Freezing and harsh

Sunny and happy

Snowy and peaceful
19 What image bookends the poem?
Rain clouds

Swallows

A church

A graveyard
20 What does "hushed" mean in the context of the poem?
It refers to the passing of the wounded soldiers and the resulting silence.

It refers to the silence in a church service.

It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

It refers to the exit movement of an army from a town.
21 How many stanzas does the poem have?
8

4

2

7
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
Rhyme

Metonymy

All three

Assonance
23 Which of the following words is an example of onomatopoeia
Hushed

Rain

Prayer

Skim
24 What does the phrase "parting groan" most likely mean?
Annoyed message

Dying gasp

Grumbled goodbye

Bitter send off
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
Taxes

Famine

Prejudice

War

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