The Rear-Guard Quizzes

The Rear-Guard Quiz

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

A dying soldier

Definitely Sassoon himself

An unidentified speaker who follows the progress of a soldier in an underground tunnel.
2 What collection was this poem published in?
Does it Matter?

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

War Poems

The Old Huntsman
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?
1919

1917

1916

1918
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?
Dehumanization

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority

Hell
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?
trench foot

shell shock

fever dreams

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

crying

silent

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

Groping

Walking

Tripping
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 dank dark tunnel

the bad quality air

the unwholesome air.

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

Ancient

Military

Domestic
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?
The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun

No Man's Land

The Hindenburg Line
13 What is romanticized in the poem?
Sleep and dreams

The battle overhead

The surrounding darkness

The soldier's wife
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?
1916

1920

1918

1917
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?
Angry, embittered, hungry

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?
He asks again louder

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He savagely kicks the figure

He shouts in his face
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?
stink and grit

sweat and horror

resilience and courage

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

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Iambic pentameter
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 it from attack from the rear during an offensive

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
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.

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

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

Tripping, he grabbed the wall
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?
Ten days before

Months earlier

Hours earlier

In ancient times
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?
isolation

memories

hell

stress

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Rear-Guard is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard

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

Read the Study Guide for The Rear-Guard…