America (Claude McKay poem) Quizzes

America (Claude McKay poem) Quiz

1 In what year did McKay publish America?
1920

1919

1921

1922
2 How could we best describe the speaker's tone?
Furious

Ambivalent

Miserable

Dispassionate
3 What could we NOT safely infer about the speaker from the poem?
He is well-read

He was born in America

He has lived in America

He is young
4 What kind of sonnet is "America"?
Victorian

Shakespearean

Petrarchan

Spenserian
5 What animal does the speaker compare America to in line 2?
Panther

Lion

Dog

Tiger
6 What recurring image does the speaker use in lines 5-7?
Air

Water

Fire

Wind
7 Besides the traditional three quatrains and final couplet of the English sonnet, how else can we break the poem down?
Into two mirroring halves

Into an octave and sestet

Into five complete sentences

Into four distinct thematic subsections
8 What kind of rock does the speaker mention in his vision of America's demise at the end of the poem?
Granite

Limestone

Sandstone

Marble
9 What kind of political figurehead does the speaker compare America to?
A king

An emperor

A president

A queen
10 Which body part is not mentioned directly in the poem?
Eye

Tooth

Hand

Throat
11 What kind of hell does the speaker describe America as?
A civilized hell

A cultured hell

A fiery hell

A sinful hell
12 The phrase "through a glass, darkly" comes from which book of the King James Bible?
Philippians

2 Corinthians

Colossians

1 Corinthians
13 What does the speaker suggest will happen to America?
It will split in two

It will stagnate

It will decline

It will thrive
14 What sound is repeated in the poem's final line?
"a" sound

"t" sound

"m" sound

"s" sound
15 What is the first word of the poem?
If

Though

Yet

Although
16 What word in the poem gestures self-reflexively to the sonnet form itself?
Lines

Room

Walls

Granite
17 What is surprising about the speaker's response to America's vigor?
It depletes him

It doesn't affect him

It frustrates him

It arouses him
18 Who wrote the poem "Ozymandias"?
P.B. Shelley

John Keats

Lord Byron

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
19 What is the name for the feminine personification of America?
Columbia

Polonia

Eternia

Oceania
20 Which of the following five senses is absent from the poem?
Hearing

Sight

Taste

Touch
21 What does the speaker say "sweeps his being like a flood"?
Her vastness

Her bigness

Her grandeur

Her vigor
22 What does the speaker say America steals from him?
His culture

His youth

His breath

His vigor
23 How many similes are in the poem?
2

None

7

4
24 How does the speaker describe the hand of Time?
Unwavering

Unmerciful

Unerring

Unfailing
25 What word does the speaker NOT use to describe America's achievements?
Treasures

Priceless

Wonders

Invaluable

What is the effect of the author use of metaphor in lines 1-4 ( bread of bitterness)?

Can you please quote the metaphor? Thanks.

Asked by Kishem S #1232931

Answered by Aslan on 5/3/2022 4:35 PM

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Cat in the Hat

Did you have a question about Cat in the Hat?

Asked by K K #1154118

Answered by jill d #170087 on 5/26/2021 3:44 PM

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What do you think about the word "cultured hell"?

On the one hand, the "cultured" in "cultured hell" confirms America's achievements, anticipating the "wonders" and "priceless treasures" at the end of the poem and countering any Eliotic notion of modernity as a cultural wasteland. Yet the "hell"...

Asked by Amirrah B #1122306

Answered by jill d #170087 on 3/5/2021 6:31 PM

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America (Claude McKay poem)

by Claude McKay

America (Claude McKay poem) Quiz

America (Claude McKay poem) Questions and Answers

Study Guide for America (Claude McKay poem)