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?

Modernist

Classical

Romantic

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

Attention to detail

Fantasy elements

Melancholy tone

Simplicity of style
4 Who were John Clare's parents?

Aristocrats

Factory workers

Poor farmers

Middle-class professionals
5 "The Yellowhammer's Nest" is a representative of what era of Clare's career?

Late career

Childhood writings

Early career

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

His second collection

His final collection

His first collection

He never published the poem
7 What is a yellowhammer?

A type of songbird

Another word for yellowjacket

A brightly colored tool

Slang for any singing bird
8 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between speaker and reader in "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Distant

Rivalry

Intimate

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

Past tense

Present tense

Future tense

Unclear
10 What is ecology?

The classification of biological creatures

The study of biological relationships

The study of biological creatures

The study of the importance of environmental factors
11 Which of the following best characterizes Clare's portrayal of natural creatures?

He portrays them as beautiful decorations in the countryside

He instills them with the same emotional depth as humans

He portrays them as intrinsically better than 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 invites his companion to see the nest, even though his companion only wants to harvest berries

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

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

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 importance of little things

The importance of friendship

Nature's capacity as a poet

The inescapability of death
15 How does Clare depict the snake's attack on the nest?

As an example of the yellowhammer's weakness

As a tragedy

As just part of the circle of life

As a victory for the snake
16 What is Castalay?

A famous forest in Britain

Clare's childhood home

A spring frequented by nymphs in Greek mythology

The home of the muses in Greek mythology
17 What does Clare's allusion to Parnassus imply?

The yellowhammer's partner is the real poet

The yellowhammer's partner is her muse

The yellowhammer's partner is a poor singer

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

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

The speaker sees himself as better than the yellowhammer, even though she is really more wise

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

The speaker admires the yellowhammer's beauty but scorns her weakness
19 Which line most closely parallels "A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams"?

Yet in the sweetest places cometh ill,

Most poet-like where brooks and flowery weeds

And mournful hath the little warblers sung

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 a tragedy

It is all-consuming

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

Bittersweet

Disinterested

Tragic

Cheerful
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 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)

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

ABAB

No fixed rhyme scheme

ABABCDCC

ABACBCDD
24 Which of the following contains a metaphor?

And like as though the plague became a guest,

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

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

When such like woes hath rent its little breast.
25 Which of the following is an example of allusion?

And like as though the plague became a guest,

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

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