Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

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

Sparrows

Blue Jays

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

Nostalgic

Elegiac

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

A small church built from logs

Stained glass

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

They are silent and unmoving

Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences

They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In a tactical meeting

In the middle of a gunfight

In a field in the aftermath of a battle

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

The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The soldiers' grim determination to win
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?
Flying swallows

Soldiers returning home

The signing of a treaty

The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
The history of a navy yard

A historical reckoning with slavery

Southern aristocratic values

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

April rain

A church

Bayonets
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A key victory for the Union

A Union surrender

A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A bitter stalement
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Battlefield medics

Robert E. Lee

Ulysses S. Grant

Anonymous soldiers
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"

"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"

"The forest-field of Shiloh-"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"Over the field in clouded days,"

"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

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

"While over them the swallows skim,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Fearful and shaky

Graceful and light

Dangerous and violent

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

There isn't one

AABB

ABAC
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Freezing and harsh

Snowy and peaceful

Rainy and somber

Sunny and happy
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 silence in a church service.

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

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?
2

7

8

4
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
Metonymy

All three

Rhyme

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

Hushed

Prayer

Rain
24 What does the phrase "parting groan" most likely mean?
Dying gasp

Bitter send off

Grumbled goodbye

Annoyed message
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
Taxes

War

Prejudice

Famine

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