Prayer (Carol Ann Duffy poem) Quizzes

Prayer (Carol Ann Duffy poem) Quiz

1 Which of the following lines uses personification?
"the minims sung by a tree"

"someone calls a child's name"

"Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre."

"a man will stand stock-still"
2 What does the poem's final line allude to?
The books of the Bible

The neighborhoods in Carol Ann Duffy's hometown

Tube stops in South London

The U.K.'s nightly shipping broadcast
3 Where does this poem's volta occur?
Between lines 9 and 10

In the middle of line 6

Between lines 12 and 13

At the end of line 4
4 Which of the following phrases from "Prayer" uses assonance?
prayer utters itself

distant Latin chanting

darkness outside

a lodger looking
5 The phrase "stand stock-still" is an example of what?
Anaphora

Onomatopoeia

Alliteration

Assonance
6 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?
ABAB CDCD EFEF AA

ABBA ABBA CDCDCD

ABBA ABBA CDECDE

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
7 Which best describes this poem's tone?
Grandiose

Jocular

Contemplative

Cold
8 Which best describes the poem's central conflict?
The rift between a rural Christian community and an urban secular one nearby

The fight between a religious Catholic parent and an agnostic child

The internal conflict between a man's religious belief and his ambitions in industry

The tension between the secular world and peoples' religious needs and instincts
9 What is the phrase "Pray for us now" an allusion to?
Paradise Lost

The Hail Mary

The Jewish liturgy

W.B. Yeats' poetry
10 Which of the following devices characterize the phrase "hearing his youth / in the distant Latin chanting of a train"?
Synecdoche

Hyperbole

Aphorism

Metonymy
11 In which way does this poem's rhyme scheme differ from that of a traditional sonnet's?
The poem uses only slant rhyme, softening the effect of rhyme

The final line of every stanza rhymes

The final couplet uses a previously introduced rhyme sound rather than introducing a new one

The poem's final two lines do not rhyme with one another
12 Which is an example of irony in this poem?
The religious people are the most cynical, while the atheists are capable of prayer and thoughtfulness

The objects most commonly associated with secularism have the deepest spiritual power

The people who try hardest to pray are frustrated, while those who don't try have their prayers answered

The most prayerful moments in everyday life are visual or tactile, not verbal
13 What point of view does this poem's speaker use?
First-person singular

Second person

First-person plural

Third person
14 What best describes the general structure of this poem?
It begins with a broad statement, followed by examples describing or proving the statement

It describes a series of seemingly unrelated anecdotes, and concludes with one that ties them together

It consists of a list divided into subcategories

It recounts a series of scenes over the course of a single day
15 How does prayer manifest for the woman described in stanza 1?
The woman experiences sounds in the natural world as a comforting prayer

The woman goes to church and is reminded of her rural childhood

The woman tries to pray at church, but ends up preferring to do so in nature

The woman stumbles upon a church in the woods
16 Which most closely describes this poem's setting?
Twentieth-century United Kingdom

A vaguely European fantasy world

Civil War-era America

Ancient Greece
17 How does the man in stanza 2 experience prayer?
He takes a train to a church at a wedding and prays as he rides

His work as a train conductor is meditative and prayerful

He watches trains go by daily and says a prayer for the people inside

The sound of a train reminds him of church services
18 Duffy uses metaphor to compare a woman's hands to which of the following?
A funnel

A platter

A sieve

Salad tongs
19 Which best describes the speaker's definition of "prayer" in this poem?
Prayer is a wish or hope so fervently expressed that it comes true

Prayer is a musical expression of devotion

Prayer is a process by which a person connects to someone or something else

Prayer is a two-way conversation between a person and God
20 What sound does the lodger in stanza 3 experience as a prayer?
A baby's cry

A ticking clock

Rain on the window

Piano scales
21 What meter does this poem (most closely) adhere to?
Dactylic trimeter

Spondaic dimeter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter
22 What form does this poem take?
Spenserian sonnet

Italian sonnet

Shakespearian sonnet

Free verse
23 Which of the following does the poem argue about music?
Music with words creates religious awakening, but music without words does not

Virtuosic musicians have the ability to connect people to a higher power

Even non-professional or unskilled musicians can create a sense of prayerfulness

Music makes people feel spiritual in the moment, but doesn't have lasting power
24 Which of the following is not a major theme of "Prayer"?
War

Human Connection

Modernity

Organized Religion
25 What kinds of stanzas appear in "Prayer"?
Couplets

Quatrains and couplets

Tercets and quatrains

Sextets and tercets

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