To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1889

1912

1936

1859
2 Where was Housman born?
London

Shropshire

Worcestershire

Paris
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Oxford

Housman did not attend university

Cambridge

University College, London
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Consistently poor

Unmotivated but brilliant

Promising but disappointing

Dazzling
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Worked as a clerk

Immediately became a professor

Earned a Ph.D.

Married his wife
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His academic work

His poetry

His political activism

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

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published

Giving advice to writers
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most are about athletes

Most employ a flowery style

Most feature rural narrators

Most are autobiographical
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As an intellectual game

As an expression of feeling

As a way of better understanding the classics

As a means of depicting beauty
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Ironic

Melancholic

Frustrated

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

One and two

Five and seven

One and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
A close friend of the runner

A member of the community

Housman himself

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

First person singular

Third person distant

First person plural
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
Smart lad, to slip betimes away

And hold to the low lintel up

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

And set you at your threshold down
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to come back from the death

For the runner to embrace death

For the runner to hold onto life

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

Modernist

Gothic

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

Emotive

Minimalist

Extensive
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?
Depiction of the afterlife

Focus on honor

Use of iambic meter

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

The eternal glory of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As a continuation of life

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded

As a closing off from the world of the living

As a period of eternal punishment
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Aeneiad

The Odyssey

The Iliad

The Bible
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?
Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Masculinity is inferior to femininity
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 short-lived

It will be false
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?
A lost race

An architectural space

A deep sleep

A shady place
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a minor problem

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

As a kind of freedom

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