1 Which historical event do most critics believe this poem specifically referred to? The Bolshevik Revolution World War II The Irish War of Independence World War I 2 What kind of shapes does the word "gyre" refer to? Diamonds Squares Parallel lines Circles 3 What language is the word "Spiritus Mundi" from? French Arabic Latin Hebrew 4 What kind of mythological creature is featured in the poem? A griffin A werewolf A sphinx A demogorgon 5 What book of the Bible does the term "The Second Coming" originate from? Revelations Deuteronomy Exodus Genesis 6 What poetic form is "The Second Coming" based on? Iambic pentameter Acrostic Sonnet Villanelle 7 Yeats detailed his philosophy about gyres in which volume of his work? The Wild Swans at Coole The Wind Among the Reeds Adam's Curse A Vision 8 Which author titled a novel after a quote from "The Second Coming"? Joan Vollmer John Keats Sylvia Plath Chinua Achebe 9 What does the phrase "The Second Coming" refer to in the Bible? The second appearance of Moses The second appearance of the devil The second appearance of the Garden of Eden The second appearance of Jesus Christ 10 Which is NOT a message of the poem "The Second Coming"? The world is becoming detached from tradition Something is coming Christ will come and save us all The world is in trouble 11 "The darkness drops" means: It gets dark Rain starts to fall The omen comes true The vision ends 12 What do the words "blank and pitiless as the sun" refer to? The faces of the masses The bloody tides The sphinx's gaze The falconer's gaze 13 What were the "twenty centuries of stony sleep" referring to? The nearly 2000 years since Christ's first coming The 2000 years since the sphinx's first prophecy The 2000 years left until the next apocalypse Yeats's narrator's 2000 years of solitude 14 What year was Yeats born? 1865 1823 1919 0 A.D. 15 Yeats detailed his complicated cosmological argument involving gyres in which book or play? The Wild Swans at Coole The Magi A Vision The Resurrection 16 In 1923, Yeats was awarded which prize? A gold star The Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Peace Prize The Pulitzer Prize 17 Yeats was most interested in which school of thought? Druidry Judaism Christianity Occultism 18 What perspective is the poem written from? A universal perspective First person Second person Third person 19 Which is NOT an example of Yeats's prophecies in "The Second Coming" coming true in the 20th century? The environmental movement The Holocaust The invention of the atomic bomb The decrease in churchgoing among youth 20 What city is the beast approaching? Jerusalem Bethlehem Sinai Bethel 21 Which is NOT a word that characterizes "The Second Coming"? Possibility Chaos Destruction Silence 22 What do the sphinx and the desert birds most likely NOT represent? The deliverance of riddles or clues Noah and his ark The antichrist A primal, creative force 23 Where was Yeats born? New York, New York Dublin, Ireland Galway, Ireland London, England 24 What does "the centre cannot hold" mean? The heart cannot sustain the mind Jesus Christ cannot save us Summer cannot last forever The world's core values and meanings are falling apart 25 Which of these statements is implied in "The Second Coming"? The Second Coming could be liberating and positive as well as dangerous Hope is always stronger than fear There is no redemption to be found and the world is going to be destroyed Change is definitely positive as it will create space for a new reality
