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?

Seventeenth

Eighteenth

Nineteenth

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

Gothic

Modernist

Romantic

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

Melancholy tone

Simplicity of style

Fantasy elements

Attention to detail
4 Who were John Clare's parents?

Middle-class professionals

Factory workers

Poor farmers

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

Childhood writings

Mid-career

Early career

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

He never published the poem

His second collection

His first collection

His final collection
7 What is a yellowhammer?

Slang for any singing bird

A type of songbird

Another word for yellowjacket

A brightly colored tool
8 Which of the following best characterizes the relationship between speaker and reader in "The Yellowhammer's Nest"?

Distant

Tense

Intimate

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

Present tense

Future tense

Past tense

Unclear
10 What is ecology?

The study of biological relationships

The classification of biological creatures

The study of the importance of environmental factors

The study 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 pests who steal the harvest

He instills them with the same emotional depth as humans

He portrays them as intrinsically better than humans
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

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

'Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown,

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

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 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 friendship

The importance of little things

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 victory for the snake

As a tragedy

As just part of the circle of life
16 What is Castalay?

The home of the muses in Greek mythology

A spring frequented by nymphs in Greek mythology

A famous forest in Britain

Clare's childhood home
17 What does Clare's allusion to Parnassus imply?

The yellowhammer's partner is a poor singer

The yellowhammer's partner is a fantasy

The yellowhammer's partner is her muse

The yellowhammer's partner is the real poet
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 and the yellowhammer as having different but complimentary strengths

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

Yet in the sweetest places cometh ill,

Most poet-like where brooks and flowery weeds

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

It has already happened

It is a tragedy

It is all-consuming

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

Disinterested

Bittersweet

Tragic

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

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 tetrameter (each line is made up of four pairs of one unstressed and one stressed 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?"

ABABCDCC

No fixed rhyme scheme

ABAB

ABACBCDD
24 Which of the following contains a metaphor?

And that old molehill like as Parnass' hill

When such like woes hath rent its little breast.

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

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

Leaving a houseless home, a ruined nest—

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,

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