The Rear-Guard Quizzes

The Rear-Guard Quiz

1 Who is the speaker in "The Rear-Guard"?
Definitely Sassoon himself

A soldier

A dying soldier

An unidentified speaker who follows the progress of a soldier in an underground tunnel.
2 What collection was this poem published in?
War Poems

The Old Huntsman

Does it Matter?

Counter-Attack and Other Poems
3 What was the context for Sassoon writing "The Rear Guard"?
He wrote it by hand while fighting in the trenches

He typed it up after the war

He wrote it after the war

He wrote it by hand in a diary as he recovered from wounds sustained in battle
4 When was Counter-Attack and Other Poems published?
1919

1917

1918

1916
5 Which of the following is not a theme in the poem?
Dehumanization

The Trauma of War

Criticizing Military Authority

Hell
6 What condition which Sassoon himself experienced is suggested in the poem?
shell shock

typhus

fever dreams

trench foot
7 How is the soldier's torch described?
prying

crying

singing

silent
8 Fill in this quote: "__ along the tunnel, step by step"
Groping

Walking

Running

Tripping
9 What does groping mean in this context?
feel about or search blindly or uncertainly with the hands

walking slowly

seeing

abuse someone
10 Finish this quote" "From side to side, and sniffed__"
the bad quality air

the heavy air

the unwholesome air.

the dank dark tunnel
11 What best characterizes the kinds of objects found down in the tunnel?
Domestic

Military

Technological

Ancient
12 What does Sassoon specify as the setting?
The Winterberg Tunnel

The Hindenburg Line

Verdun

No Man's Land
13 What is romanticized in the poem?
Sleep and dreams

The surrounding darkness

The battle overhead

The soldier's wife
14 In what year does Sassoon specify the poem taking place?
1918

1916

1920

1917
15 Which best characterizes the soldier's condition?
Sleep-deprived, wishful, fanciful

Sleep-deprived, desperate, isolated

Shell-shocked, hungry, sleepy

Angry, embittered, hungry
16 How does the soldier respond when the sleeping figure doesn't answer him?
He shakes the sleeper's arm

He asks again louder

He savagely kicks the figure

He shouts in his face
17 What time of day is it in the poem?
Night

Midday

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is dawn in the world above

Unspecified in the tunnel, but it is implied that it is nighttime in the world above
18 What is in the soldier's hair?
sweat and horror

stink and grit

sweat and terror

resilience and courage
19 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter (sometimes interrupted)

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Free verse
20 What is a rear guard?
a part of a military force that protects the last line of soldiers

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear during an offensive

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear

a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the front
21 Does the poem take place during an active battle?
It is during war time, but there is no active battle in the tunnel

No

The poem takes place in a tunnel below an active battle

Yes
22 Which contains an example of alliteration?
“Get up and guide me through this stinking place.”

Tripping, he grabbed the wall

The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes and too vague to know;
23 What is alliteration?
symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts

a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words

the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible
24 When did the other soldier in the poem die?
Hours earlier

In ancient times

Months earlier

Ten days before
25 What does the soldier "unload" behind him at the end?
stress

isolation

hell

memories

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Study Guide for The Rear-Guard

The Rear-Guard study guide contains a biography of Siegfried Sassoon, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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