Adam’s Curse Quizzes

Adam's Curse Quiz

1 Which of the following best describes the poem's tone?
Aggressive

Gleeful

Aloof

Regretful
2 What does "thereupon" mean?
Right after

On top of

Supposedly

Therefore
3 What is the poem's central allusion?
The Book of Genesis

The parables of Jesus

Paradise Lost

Irish folklore
4 How is the addressee's friend characterized?
As beautiful and kind

As sluggish and weary

As clever and critical

As fiery and opinionated
5 What does the word "precedents" mean?
Comforting narratives

Prior examples

Underlying principles

People in charge of institutions
6 What is the poem's stanzaic arrangement?
It consists of two fourteen-line sonnets in a row

It consists of a single forty-line stanza

It consists of a longer, 27-line stanza, a sestet, and a quatrain

It consists of twenty couplets
7 The poem's addressee is probably based on whom?
W.B. Yeats

Augusta Gregory

Georgiana Hyde-Lees

Maud Gonne
8 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
AABBCCDD

It does not follow a consistent rhyme scheme

ABBACDDCEFFE

ABABCDCD
9 Which of the following appears to be true of the speaker?
The speaker is a banker

The speaker is a mother

The speaker is a poet

The speaker is a soldier
10 What is the poem's meter?
Dactylic trimeter

Iambic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic pentameter
11 Which of the following does the speaker want?
To love the addressee in a lofty, effortful way

To be recognized as a hardworking poet and lover

To become a banker or schoolteacher

To return to prelapsarian paradise
12 In which poetry collection did this first appear?
The Winding Stair

The Tower

In the Seven Woods

The Wanderings of Oisin
13 What does the word "pauper" mean?
A poor person

A poet

A person who works in a kitchen

A very old person
14 What does the word "idler" mean?
An artist

A member of the clergy

A lazy person

A sick person
15 When was this poem published?
1921

1903

1900

1914
16 When does the work take place?
Early spring

The middle of the night

Christmas afternoon

A summer evening
17 What does the word "high," as used in this poem, mean?
Intoxicated

Elevated

Physically far from the ground

Wealthy
18 Which of the following, according to the poem, is not taught in schools?
The art of following norms of feminine beauty

The art of reading the Bible

The art of understanding nature

The art of writing poetry
19 The line "I had a thought for no one’s but your ears" contains which device?
Metonymy

Understatement

Synecdoche

Personification
20 What does Yeats compare the fading daylight to?
A dream that has been forgotten

The embers of a fire

Drops of water from a fountain

Coins in a pocket
21 Which character does not speak out loud in this poem?
The addressee

The friend

The speaker

All of the above—the characters sit in silent reflection
22 The speaker compares poetry to which of the following?
Sewing

Farming

Hunting

Childbearing
23 Which of the following is true of the poem?
It is written in the second person

It switches speakers several times

It is a sonnet

It expresses skepticism about biblical stories
24 Which of the following is not described as a casualty or victim of Adam's curse?
Physical beauty

Love

Poetry

Childhood
25 What does the moon symbolize?
The omnipresence of the divine

The light and redemption found in dark times

The eternal beauty of nature

The speaker's cynicism about love

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Study Guide for Adam’s Curse

Adam's Curse study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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