Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

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

Blue Jays

Starlings

Swallows
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Comedic

Nostalgic

Enraged

Elegiac
3 What religious imagery appears in the poem?
Stained glass

A small church built from logs

A wooden cross

A painted icon
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
They verbally express hopeful camaraderie to one another

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

They are silent and unmoving

Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In the middle of a gunfight

In a tactical meeting

In a battlefield hospital

In a field in the aftermath of a battle
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess

The soldiers' grim determination to win

The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances

The soldiers' faith in politicians
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A battle during the Civil War

A whaling ship

A town in Massachusetts
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
Soldiers returning home

The signing of a treaty

Flying swallows

The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
A historical reckoning with slavery

The history of a navy yard

Southern aristocratic values

The aftermath of war
10 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
A church

Bayonets

April rain

Swallows
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A Union surrender

A bitter stalement

A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A key victory for the Union
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Anonymous soldiers

Robert E. Lee

Ulysses S. Grant

Battlefield medics
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
The senseless carnage of war

The collapse of a soldier's individual identity

A soldier's suppression of commonalities

The struggle of growing up
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"Through the pause of night"

"The swallows fly low"

"The forest-field of Shiloh-"

"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"The church so lone, the log built one,"

"Over the field in clouded days,"

"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

"While over them the swallows skim,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Graceful and light

Dangerous and violent

Fearful and shaky

Stealthy and fast
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
ABAC

AABB

ABAB

There isn't one
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Sunny and happy

Freezing and harsh

Rainy and somber

Snowy and peaceful
19 What image bookends the poem?
A graveyard

A church

Rain clouds

Swallows
20 What does "hushed" mean in the context of the poem?
It refers to the silence in a church service.

It refers to the exit movement of an army from a town.

It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

It refers to the passing of the wounded soldiers and the resulting silence.
21 How many stanzas does the poem have?
4

7

8

2
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
All three

Metonymy

Assonance

Rhyme
23 Which of the following words is an example of onomatopoeia
Skim

Rain

Hushed

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

Bitter send off

Dying gasp

Grumbled goodbye
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
War

Taxes

Prejudice

Famine

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