If We Must Die Quizzes

If We Must Die Quiz

1 In what year did McKay write "If We Must Die"?
1921

1919

1918

1917
2 What is most important to the speaker?
Honor

Personal fame

Victory

Survival
3 What kind of sonnet is "If We Must Die"?
Shakespearean sonnet

Petrarchan sonnet

Victorian sonnet

Spenserian sonnet
4 How does the speaker first characterize his enemy?
Like wolves

Like dogs

Like monsters

Like men
5 How many times is the line "If We Must Die" repeated in the poem?
Once

Never

2 times

3 times
6 What "inglorious" animal does the speaker urge his allies not to imitate?
Cats

Hogs

Cattle

Rats
7 Which of the following kinds of words are NOT used in the poem?
Colors

Numbers

Animal words

Archaic words
8 What image from the poem's final line conveys the allies' dire situation?
Being pinned down

Being penned in

Being pressed to the wall

Being surrounded
9 What word does the speaker use to directly address his compatriots?
Allies

Brothers

Fellow men

Kinsmen
10 What famous historical figure reportedly read the poem to the public during World War II?
Winston Churchill

Langston Hughes

General Douglas MacArthur

Franklin D. Roosevelt
11 If the speaker fights honorably, what will the "monsters" be forced to do?
Forgive him

Let him live

Honor him

Bury him
12 What phrase in the poem potentially refers to Christ?
Open grave

Precious blood

Accursèd lot

Thousand blows
13 What events inspired the poem's composition?
Woodrow Wilson's presidency

World War I

McKay's trip to Russia

The Red Summer
14 What does the speaker say the enemy will do if his allies surrender?
Pardon him

Honor him

Mock him

Congratulate him
15 What figure of speech is "O, kinsmen!"?
Apostrophe

Acrostic

Aphorism

Anaphora
16 How does the speaker handle the possibility of death?
He refuses to believe it

He willing submits to it

He stands firm in the face of it

He fears it
17 In what magazine was the poem originally published?
The Liberator

The Atlantic

The Crisis

The Messenger
18 What vowel sound is repeated throughout the second and third quatrains?
U

E

I

O
19 How does the speaker suggest they should die?
Quickly

Nobly

Reluctantly

Willingly
20 What is the poem's attitude towards combat?
A realistic sense of guerrilla warface

A modernist sense of chaos and futility

A disavowal in favor of non-violent protest

Classical notions of heroic conflict
21 What kind of words drop out at the end of the poem?
Animal words like "pack"

Words related to gender

Words related to death

Conditional words like "if"
22 What does the speaker mean when he says "before us lies the open grave"?
They might die

They will certainly die

They will dig graves

They will kill the enemy
23 What makes "If We Must Die" different from a typical sonnet?
It is has a final rhyming couplet

It does not use the singular "I"

It uses comparisons to animals

It is uses romanticized ideals
24 What sound is repeated many times in the second line of the poem?
M sounds

P sounds

N sounds

T sounds
25 What ratio does the speaker use to give a sense of how outnumbered they are?
10:1

100:1

10000:1

1000:1