The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

Definitely Sassoon himself

A dying soldier

A soldier

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

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

Does it Matter?

War Poems

The Old Huntsman
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?

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

He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?

1917

1919

1918

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

Hell

Dehumanization

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority
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

Groping

Walking

Tripping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

abuse someone

seeing

walking slowly

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

the unwholesome air.

the dank dark tunnel

the heavy air

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

Ancient

Military

Technological

Domestic
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

No Man's Land

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel

Verdun
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The battle overhead

The surrounding darkness

Sleep and dreams

The soldier's wife
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, 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 shouts in his face

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He savagely kicks the figure

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

Midday

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

Night

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

sweat and terror

stink and grit

sweat and horror

resilience and courage
19 What is the poem's meter?

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Iambic pentameter

Free verse
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

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
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

Yes

No

It is during war time, but there is no active battle in the tunnel
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?

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

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”
23 What is alliteration?

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

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?

Months earlier

Ten days before

Hours earlier

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

memories

stress

isolation

hell

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard