To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

To an Athlete Dying Young "To an Athlete Dying Young"

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1859

1889

1936

1912
2 Where was Housman born?
Paris

Worcestershire

London

Shropshire
3 Where did Housman attend university?
University College, London

Housman did not attend university

Cambridge

Oxford
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Consistently poor

Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling

Promising but disappointing
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Immediately became a professor

Worked as a clerk

Married his wife

Earned a Ph.D.
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His academic work

His family

His poetry

His political activism
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Reconstructing classic texts

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Giving advice to writers

Determining which poems should be published
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most employ a flowery style

Most feature rural narrators

Most are autobiographical

Most are about athletes
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As a means of depicting beauty

As an intellectual game

As an expression of feeling

As a way of better understanding the classics
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Frustrated

Ironic

Erotic

Melancholic
11 Which two stanzas of "To an Athlete Dying Young" most closely parallel one another?
One and seven

Five and seven

Six and seven

One and two
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
A member of the community

Housman himself

A complete stranger

A close friend of the runner
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?
Third person close

First person plural

Third person distant

First person singular
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
And set you at your threshold down

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And hold to the low lintel up
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to hold onto life

For the runner to come back from the death

For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to defend his title
16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble?
Romantic

Neoclassical

Gothic

Modernist
17 Which of the following best describes Housman's diction in "To an Athlete"?
Emotive

Descriptive

Extensive

Minimalist
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?
Focus on honor

Depiction of the afterlife

Use of iambic meter

Stripped-down style
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The pointlessness of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As a closing off from the world of the living

As a continuation of life

As a period of eternal punishment

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Bible

The Iliad

The Odyssey

The Aeneiad
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?
The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny
23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead?
It will diminish his strength of character

It will only come when he is old

It will be false

It will be short-lived
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?
A deep sleep

A shady place

An architectural space

A lost race
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a kind of freedom

As a minor problem

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

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