The Rear-Guard Quizzes

The Rear-Guard Quiz

1 Who is the speaker in "The Rear-Guard"?
A soldier

An unidentified speaker who follows the progress of a soldier in an underground tunnel.

A dying soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself
2 What collection was this poem published in?
Counter-Attack and Other Poems

War Poems

The Old Huntsman

Does it Matter?
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?
He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches

He typed it up after the war

He wrote it after the war

He wrote it by hand in a diary as he recovered from wounds sustained in battle
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?
1918

1917

1919

1916
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?
Hell

Dehumanization

Criticizing Military Authority

The Trauma of War
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?
shell shock

trench foot

fever dreams

typhus
7 How is the soldier's torch described?
silent

singing

crying

prying
8 Fill in this quote: "__ along the tunnel, step by step"
Running

Tripping

Walking

Groping
9 What does groping mean in this context?
abuse someone

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

walking slowly

seeing
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"
the unwholesome air.

the heavy air

the dank dark tunnel

the bad quality air
11 What best characterizes the kinds of objects found down in the tunnel?
Domestic

Ancient

Military

Technological
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?
The Hindenburg Line

Verdun

The Winterberg Tunnel

No Man's Land
13 What is romanticized in the poem?
The surrounding darkness

The battle overhead

Sleep and dreams

The soldier's wife
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?
1918

1920

1917

1916
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?
Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

Angry, embittered, hungry

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?
He savagely kicks the figure

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He shouts in his face

He asks again louder
17 What time of day is it in the poem?
Midday

Night

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is dawn in the world above

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is nighttime in the world above
18 What is in the soldier's hair?
resilience and courage

sweat and terror

stink and grit

sweat and horror
19 What is the poem's meter?
Free verse

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter
20 What is a rear guard?
a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear during an offensive

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear

a part of a military force that protects the last line of soldiers

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the front
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?
No

It is during war time, but there is no active battle in the tunnel

Yes

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?
The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes and too vague to know;
23 What is alliteration?
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts

the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?
In ancient times

Months earlier

Hours earlier

Ten days before
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?
isolation

stress

memories

hell

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The Rear-Guard study guide contains a biography of Siegfried Sassoon, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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