Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

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

Blue Jays

Sparrows

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

Enraged

Elegiac

Nostalgic
3 What religious imagery appears in the poem?
A small church built from logs

A wooden cross

A painted icon

Stained glass
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death

Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences

They are silent and unmoving

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

In the middle of a gunfight

In a field in the aftermath of a battle

In a tactical meeting
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The soldiers' grim determination to win

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances

The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
A town in Massachusetts

The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A whaling ship

A battle during the Civil War
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
Flying swallows

The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers

Soldiers returning home

The signing of a treaty
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
A historical reckoning with slavery

Southern aristocratic values

The aftermath of war

The history of a navy yard
10 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
A church

April rain

Bayonets

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

A bitter stalement

A key victory for the Union

A rallying cry for the Confederacy
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Battlefield medics

Ulysses S. Grant

Anonymous soldiers

Robert E. Lee
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
The senseless carnage of war

The struggle of growing up

The collapse of a soldier's individual identity

A soldier's suppression of commonalities
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"The forest-field of Shiloh-"

"The swallows fly low"

"Through the pause of night"

"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"Over the field in clouded days,"

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

"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

"While over them the swallows skim,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Stealthy and fast

Fearful and shaky

Dangerous and violent

Graceful and light
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
ABAC

AABB

There isn't one

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

Sunny and happy

Snowy and peaceful

Freezing and harsh
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 exit movement of an army from a town.

It refers to the passing of the wounded soldiers and the resulting silence.

It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

It refers to the silence in a church service.
21 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

4

8

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

Assonance

Metonymy

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

Skim

Rain

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

Prejudice

Taxes

Famine

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