Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quizzes

Shiloh (Herman Melville poem) Quiz

1 What birds are mentioned at the poem's beginning and end?
Starlings

Blue Jays

Sparrows

Swallows
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Nostalgic

Enraged

Comedic

Elegiac
3 What religious imagery appears in the poem?
A small church built from logs

A painted icon

A wooden cross

Stained glass
4 What does the speaker say about the soldiers' personalities?
Being badly wounded has briefly divested them of their differences

They are silent and unmoving

They cling to their beliefs fiercely, even in the face of death

They verbally express hopeful camaraderie to one another
5 Where do the events of the poem take place?
In a tactical meeting

In a field in the aftermath of a battle

In a battlefield hospital

In the middle of a gunfight
6 What does the image of the bullet represent?
The soldiers' grim determination to win

The soldiers' focus on tactical prowess

The soldiers' faith in politicians

The rupture of the soldiers' regional alliances
7 What is the poem's title referencing?
A battle during the Civil War

The signing of the Declaration of Independence

A town in Massachusetts

A whaling ship
8 What does the line "Fame or country least their care" describe?
The newfound understanding between the dying soldiers

Soldiers returning home

Flying swallows

The signing of a treaty
9 What is the poem's main thematic thread?
Southern aristocratic values

The aftermath of war

A historical reckoning with slavery

The history of a navy yard
10 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
Bayonets

Swallows

April rain

A church
11 What is Shiloh's historical reputation?
A bitter stalement

A rallying cry for the Confederacy

A key victory for the Union

A Union surrender
12 Which of the following describes a character in the poem?
Battlefield medics

Robert E. Lee

Ulysses S. Grant

Anonymous soldiers
13 Which of the following is NOT a conflict in the poem?
The collapse of a soldier's individual identity

The struggle of growing up

The senseless carnage of war

A soldier's suppression of commonalities
14 Which of these lines contains assonance?
"The forest-field of Shiloh-"

"Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain"

"The swallows fly low"

"Through the pause of night"
15 Which of these lines contains a reference to religion?
"While over them the swallows skim,"

"(What like a bullet can undeceive!)"

"Over the field in clouded days,"

"The church so lone, the log built one,"
16 Which adjectives describe the swallows?
Fearful and shaky

Stealthy and fast

Dangerous and violent

Graceful and light
17 What is the rhyme scheme of lines 4-8?
There isn't one

AABB

ABAC

ABAB
18 What describes the mood of the weather in them poem?
Sunny and happy

Snowy and peaceful

Freezing and harsh

Rainy and somber
19 What image bookends the poem?
A church

A graveyard

Rain clouds

Swallows
20 What does "hushed" mean in the context of the poem?
It refers the migration pattern of swallows.

It refers to the exit movement of an army from a town.

It refers to the passing of the wounded soldiers and the resulting silence.

It refers to the silence in a church service.
21 How many stanzas does the poem have?
8

4

7

2
22 Which of the following elements are at work in the poem?
Rhyme

Metonymy

All three

Assonance
23 Which of the following words is an example of onomatopoeia
Hushed

Prayer

Skim

Rain
24 What does the phrase "parting groan" most likely mean?
Grumbled goodbye

Bitter send off

Annoyed message

Dying gasp
25 What is the antagonizing force in the poem?
Taxes

War

Prejudice

Famine

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