September 1913 Quizzes

September 1913 Quiz

1 Who is the "O'Leary" mentioned in the poem?
The mythical Irish warrior O'Leary

The eighteenth-century general William O'Leary

The painter Joseph O'Leary

The Irish separatist John O'Leary
2 How does the speaker conceive of the relationship between Irish people today and past Irish heroes?
Modern Ireland has no heroes, because their ancestors all left the country

Ireland today carries the legacy of past heroes, even those whose names are lost to history

Modern Ireland would distress its historical heroes, but this is a positive thing

Ireland's modern middle class has betrayed the heroes of the past
3 Yeats was personally acquainted with which of the people mentioned in this poem?
Tone

Emmet

O'Leary

Fitzgerald
4 Which of the following describes the poem's tone?
Jocular

Dreamy

Bitter

Businesslike
5 What is this poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCDEF

AABBCCDD

ABBCDCD

ABBACDDC
6 What type of stanzas make up this poem?
Quatrains

Quintains

Sestets

Octaves
7 What does the word "weigh" mean in the context of this poem?
Consider

Offer input

Carry

Measure
8 What is closest to a definition of the word "delirium" as used in the poem?
unconsciousness

illness

stupidity

ecstasy
9 Who were the "wild geese"?
Yeats's generation of Irish artists and writers

Orphaned children growing up in Dublin

Irish soldiers fighting in foreign armies

The working classes of Ireland's rural counties
10 How does Yeats evoke the disjunction between past and present Irish people?
By describing their respective homes and clothes

By imagining how a single city has changed over the centuries

By imagining them having a conversation

By picturing various figures of Irish history touring modern Dublin
11 Which sound produces assonance in the phrase "Was it for this"?
The S sound

The O sound

There is no assonance in this phrase

The short I sound
12 What claim is made in the poem's refrain?
That O'Leary is dead but his legacy lives on

That poets, not soldiers, will save Ireland

That Romantic Ireland is dead

That there is no need for Ireland to be independent
13 When did Robert Emmet die?
In 1913, during a dispute over the Dublin lock-out

In 1939, shortly before Yeats's own death

In 1798, during a shootout with British forces

In 1803, when he was executed for planning a rebellion
14 The phrase "maddened every mother’s son" contains which of the following?
Synecdoche

End rhyme

Alliteration

Personification
15 Which 1913 event does the poem's title refer to?
The Spanish Flu epidemic

The Dublin Lock-Out

Bloody Sunday

The Easter Rising
16 Which of the following lines contains the clearest instance of verbal irony?
"They weighed so lightly what they gave"

"little time had they to pray"

"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone"

"men were born to pray and save"
17 In which of the poem's stanzas is the refrain somewhat altered?
The fourth

The first

The sixth

The third
18 Who is the implied addressee of the poem?
O'Leary

Ireland's middle-class population in the twentieth century

The speaker's child

Irish soldiers
19 The phrase "some woman's yellow hair" is an instance of what?
Situational irony

Alliteration

Simile

Synecdoche
20 What do Ireland's middle classes focus on, according to the speaker?
Prayer and money

Luxurious material goods

Food and wine

Education and travel
21 Who is the poem's protagonist?
Ireland's children

Fighters on behalf of Irish nationalism and independence

The speaker

Robert Emmet
22 The phrase "They have gone about the world like wind" is an instance of what device?
Simile

Metaphor

Assonance

Verbal Irony
23 What is this poem's meter?
Anapestic trimeter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter
24 Who was Edward Fitzgerald?
A fictional character from a James Joyce novel

A leader of the group known as the United Irishmen

A friend of the poet's who died shortly before this work was written

An Irish spy in the nineteenth century
25 The claim that "Romantic Ireland's dead" is an instance of what?
Simile

Metonymy

Metaphor

Synecdoche

September 1913 Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for September 1913

September 1913 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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