The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

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

A dying soldier

A soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself
2 What collection was this poem published in?

The Old Huntsman

War Poems

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

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 wrote it by hand in a diary as he recovered from wounds sustained in battle

He wrote it after the war

He typed it up after the war
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?

1918

1919

1916

1917
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?

The Trauma of War

Hell

Criticizing Military Authority

Dehumanization
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?

shell shock

typhus

fever dreams

trench foot
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

silent

singing

crying

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

Walking

Tripping

Running

Groping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

seeing

abuse someone

walking slowly

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"

the bad quality air

the dank dark tunnel

the unwholesome air.

the heavy air
11 What best characterizes the kinds of objects found down in the tunnel?

Military

Domestic

Technological

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

The Hindenburg Line

No Man's Land

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

Sleep and dreams

The battle overhead

The soldier's wife

The surrounding darkness
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?

1920

1916

1918

1917
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Angry, embittered, hungry

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?

He shouts in his face

He asks again louder

He savagely kicks the figure

He shakes the sleeper's arm
17 What time of day is it in the poem?

Midday

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

Night

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is dawn in the world above
18 What is in the soldier's hair?

sweat and horror

resilience and courage

stink and grit

sweat and terror
19 What is the poem's meter?

Free verse

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)
20 What is a rear guard?

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

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 rear

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear during an offensive
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

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

Yes

No
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes and too vague to know;

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

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.
23 What is alliteration?

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

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

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

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?

In ancient times

Hours earlier

Ten days before

Months earlier
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?

memories

stress

hell

isolation

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard