The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following is an instance of metaphor?
"Tell me how old I am"

"bird-calls / dribble"

"I start for a second"

The poem contains no metaphors
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?
8

6

9

4
3 The phrase "fly their kites" contains which of the following?
Assonance

Alliteration

Verbal irony

Sibilance
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?
Unbelievably

In a stumbling manner

With emphatic movements

Drunkenly
5 What types of stanzas make up this poem?
Quatrains

Tercets

Sestets

Couplets
6 What does "sift" most closely mean here?
Dirty

Fall

Split

Sicken
7 What does "blench" mean?
Fall

Flinch

Belch

Crush
8 Which of the following is a refrain?
"I am growing deaf."

"Tell me how old I am."

"The claws are lost somewhere."

"Nobody tells me anything."
9 Which best describes the extended metaphor of the mountain enviroment?
It is a quiet, pastoral place representing the paired tranquility and boredom of age

It is a harsh, strange landscape representing old age

It is a paradisal space representing heaven

It is a dangerous landscape representing illness and death
10 The phrase "Nobody tells me anything" is an instance of which of the following?
Personification

Simile

Hyperbole

Understatement
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?
The haiku

The sonnet

The sestina

The villanelle
12 In what year was "The Mountain" first published?
1996

1928

1952

1884
13 The phrase "like cotton in my ears" is an instance of which of the following?
Metaphor

Simile

Personification

Metonymy
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?
Impossible to get through

Intimidatingly beautiful

Incapable of thought

Impossible to contain
15 Where does the speaker live?
London

Brazil

Massachusetts

This isn't stated in the poem
16 What does "clambering" mean?
Confusing

Climbing

Cooking

Struggling
17 Which of the following is NOT an example of personification?
"An open book confronts me"

"stars go fly their kites."

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"

"They say it is my fault"
18 Who is the poem's speaker?
An older man looking back on his life

A young woman imagining her old age

A young man addressing his beloved

An unidentified elderly person
19 Which best describes the poem's major conflict?
It is the speaker's discussion with her past self as she grows old

It is the speaker's attempt to reach the top of the mountain

It is the speaker's argument with her daughter about living together

It is the speaker's struggle to maintain dignity and comfort in old age
20 In which magazine did this poem first appear?
The New Yorker

The Paris Review

Poetry

Time
21 What does "demarcation" mean?
Disagreement

Vacation

Tarnish

Division
22 The phrase "deepest demarcation" is an instance of which of the following?
Assonance

Alliteration

End rhyme

Onomatopoeia
23 Which of the following best describes this poem's tone?
Resigned

Jolly

Anxious

Serene
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABADACAD

It has no regular rhyme scheme

AABB CCDD

ABABAB CDCDCD EF
25 What is the poem's meter?
Though the poem has rhythmic patterns, it has no regular meter

Iambic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Spondaic monometer

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