The Yellowhammer’s Nest Quizzes

The Yellowhammer's Nest "The Yellowhammer's Nest"

1 During what century did John Clare write the majority of his poems?

Twentieth

Eighteenth

Seventeenth

Nineteenth
2 What literary movement was John Clare a part of?

Classical

Romantic

Gothic

Modernist
3 Which of the following is Clare's poetry NOT known for?

Simplicity of style

Melancholy tone

Attention to detail

Fantasy elements
4 Who were John Clare's parents?

Factory workers

Poor farmers

Middle-class professionals

Aristocrats
5 "The Yellowhammer's Nest" is a representative of what era of Clare's career?

Late career

Early career

Childhood writings

Mid-career
6 In what collection did Clare publish "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

He never published the poem

His final collection

His first collection

His second collection
7 What is a yellowhammer?

Slang for any singing bird

A type of songbird

A brightly colored tool

Another word for yellowjacket
8 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between speaker and reader in "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Rivalry

Tense

Distant

Intimate
9 What is the tense at the beginning of the poem?

Unclear

Past tense

Present tense

Future tense
10 What is ecology?

The study of biological creatures

The study of biological relationships

The study of the importance of environmental factors

The classification of biological creatures
11 Which of the following best characterizes Clare's portrayal of natural creatures?

He portrays them as beautiful decorations in the countryside

He portrays them as intrinsically better than humans

He instills them with the same emotional depth as humans

He portrays them as pests who steal the harvest
12 Which of the following is NOT an example of Clare paying unusual attention to detail?

Its husk seeds tall and high—'tis rudely planned

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,

Five eggs, pen-scribbled o'er with ink their shells

A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams.
13 What is ironic about the beginning of the poem?

The speaker feels close to the yellowhammer, even though he ends up destroying its nest

The speaker characterizes the stream as harmless by saying what it could harm

The speaker invites his companion to see the nest, even though his companion only wants to harvest berries

The yellowhammer flies off to protect itself from the cowboy, which actually allows the snake to destroy its nest
14 Which of the following is NOT a central theme of "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

The inescapability of death

The importance of little things

The importance of friendship

Nature's capacity as a poet
15 How does Clare depict the snake's attack on the nest?

As a victory for the snake

As just part of the circle of life

As an example of the yellowhammer's weakness

As a tragedy
16 What is Castalay?

A spring frequented by nymphs in Greek mythology

The home of the muses in Greek mythology

Clare's childhood home

A famous forest in Britain
17 What does Clare's allusion to Parnassus imply?

The yellowhammer's partner is a poor singer

The yellowhammer's partner is the real poet

The yellowhammer's partner is her muse

The yellowhammer's partner is a fantasy
18 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between the speaker and the yellowhammer?

The speaker sees himself and the yellowhammer as having different but complimentary strengths

The speaker stoops to the yellowhammer's level and sees the world from her perspective

The speaker admires the yellowhammer's beauty but scorns her weakness

The speaker sees himself as better than the yellowhammer, even though she is really more wise
19 Which line most closely parallels "A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams"?

And mournful hath the little warblers sung

Most poet-like where brooks and flowery weeds

Yet in the sweetest places cometh ill,

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—
20 Which of the following is NOT true of the snake attack as Clare describes it?

It is a possibility

It is all-consuming

It has already happened

It is a tragedy
21 Thinking about "The Yellowhammer's Nest" as a whole, which of the following best describes its mood?

Bittersweet

Cheerful

Disinterested

Tragic
22 What is the meter of "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Iambic tetrameter (each line is made up of four pairs of one unstressed and one stressed syllable)

Trochaic pentameter (each line is made up of five pairs of one stressed and one unstressed syllable)

Trochaic tetrameter (each line is made up of four pairs of one stressed and one unstressed syllable)

Iambic pentameter (each line is made up of five pairs of one unstressed and one stressed syllable)
23 What is the rhyme scheme of "The Yellowhammer's Nest?"

ABACBCDD

ABABCDCC

ABAB

No fixed rhyme scheme
24 Which of the following contains a metaphor?

Five eggs, pen-scribbled o'er with ink their shells

When such like woes hath rent its little breast.

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

And like as though the plague became a guest,
25 Which of the following is an example of allusion?

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,

And like as though the plague became a guest,

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—

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