The Rear-Guard Quizzes

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

A dying soldier

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

A soldier

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

Does it Matter?

War Poems

Counter-Attack and Other Poems

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

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

He wrote it after the war

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

1917

1918

1919

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

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority

Hell

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

typhus

shell shock

trench foot

fever dreams
7 How is the soldier's torch described?

prying

crying

singing

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

Groping

Walking

Running

Tripping
9 What does groping mean in this context?

walking slowly

feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

abuse someone

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

Military

Domestic

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?

The Hindenburg Line

The Winterberg Tunnel

No Man's Land

Verdun
13 What is romanticized in the poem?

The soldier's wife

Sleep and dreams

The battle overhead

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

1918

1920

1917

1916
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?

Angry, embittered, hungry

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

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

He asks again louder

He shouts in his face

He shakes the sleeper's arm

He savagely kicks the figure
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

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

Night
18 What is in the soldier's hair?

resilience and courage

sweat and horror

sweat and terror

stink and grit
19 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Blank verse

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

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 rear during an offensive

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

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

No

Yes

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?

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

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
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?

isolation

hell

stress

memories

The Rear-Guard

by Siegfried Sassoon

The Rear-Guard Quiz

The Rear-Guard Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Rear-Guard