The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quizzes

The Mountain (Elizabeth Bishop poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following is an instance of metaphor?

"I start for a second"

"Tell me how old I am"

The poem contains no metaphors

"bird-calls / dribble"
2 How many stanzas are in this poem?

8

4

6

9
3 The phrase "fly their kites" contains which of the following?

Alliteration

Sibilance

Verbal irony

Assonance
4 What does "staggeringly" mean in this context?

Unbelievably

Drunkenly

With emphatic movements

In a stumbling manner
5 What types of stanzas make up this poem?

Quatrains

Couplets

Sestets

Tercets
6 What does "sift" most closely mean here?

Sicken

Split

Fall

Dirty
7 What does "blench" mean?

Fall

Flinch

Belch

Crush
8 Which of the following is a refrain?

"Nobody tells me anything."

"I am growing deaf."

"The claws are lost somewhere."

"Tell me how old I am."
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 dangerous landscape representing illness and death

It is a harsh, strange landscape representing old age

It is a paradisal space representing heaven
10 The phrase "Nobody tells me anything" is an instance of which of the following?

Understatement

Personification

Simile

Hyperbole
11 Which poetic form does "The Mountain" resemble?

The sestina

The haiku

The sonnet

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

1952

1928

1996

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

Personification

Simile

Metonymy

Metaphor
14 What does "impenetrable" mean?

Impossible to get through

Incapable of thought

Intimidatingly beautiful

Impossible to contain
15 Where does the speaker live?

Massachusetts

London

Brazil

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

Confusing

Climbing

Struggling

Cooking
17 Which of the following is NOT an example of personification?

"stars go fly their kites."

"They say it is my fault"

"An open book confronts me"

"the valleys stuff/impenetrable mists"
18 Who is the poem's speaker?

An unidentified elderly person

An older man looking back on his life

A young man addressing his beloved

A young woman imagining her old age
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?

Time

The New Yorker

Poetry

The Paris Review
21 What does "demarcation" mean?

Tarnish

Division

Vacation

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

Onomatopoeia

Alliteration

Assonance

End rhyme
23 Which of the following best describes this poem's tone?

Anxious

Serene

Jolly

Resigned
24 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

AABB CCDD

ABADACAD

ABABAB CDCDCD EF

It has no regular rhyme scheme
25 What is the poem's meter?

Spondaic monometer

Iambic pentameter

Though the poem has rhythmic patterns, it has no regular meter

Iambic hexameter

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