To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

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

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1889

1936

1859

1912
2 Where was Housman born?
London

Worcestershire

Paris

Shropshire
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Housman did not attend university

University College, London

Cambridge

Oxford
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Promising but disappointing

Consistently poor

Unmotivated but brilliant

Dazzling
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Married his wife

Earned a Ph.D.

Immediately became a professor

Worked as a clerk
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His family

His political activism

His poetry

His academic work
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Giving advice to writers

Reconstructing classic texts

Determining which poems should be published

Fact-checking things in newspapers
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most feature rural narrators

Most employ a flowery style

Most are about athletes

Most are autobiographical
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As an expression of feeling

As an intellectual game

As a means of depicting beauty

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

Ironic

Erotic

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

One and two

Five and seven

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

Housman himself

A complete stranger

A member of the community
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?
First person plural

First person singular

Third person close

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

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

And hold to the low lintel up

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?
Gothic

Romantic

Neoclassical

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

Minimalist

Extensive

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

Stripped-down style

Focus on honor

Use of iambic meter
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The pointlessness of fame

The ephemerality of fame

The joy of fame

The eternal glory of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded

As a period of eternal punishment

As a continuation of life

As a closing off from the world of the living
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Odyssey

The Iliad

The Aeneiad

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?
The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is inferior to femininity

Masculinity is tragically short-lived
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 be false

It will only come when he is old

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

A shady place

A deep sleep

An architectural space
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a minor problem

As a kind of freedom

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

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