To an Athlete Dying Young Quizzes

To an Athlete Dying Young "To an Athlete Dying Young"

1 When was A. E. Housman born?
1936

1912

1859

1889
2 Where was Housman born?
Paris

London

Shropshire

Worcestershire
3 Where did Housman attend university?
Cambridge

University College, London

Oxford

Housman did not attend university
4 Which of the following best describes Housman's career as a student?
Consistently poor

Dazzling

Promising but disappointing

Unmotivated but brilliant
5 What did Housman do after graduating?
Earned a Ph.D.

Married his wife

Worked as a clerk

Immediately became a professor
6 What was Housman's priority during his life?
His poetry

His family

His academic work

His political activism
7 What kind of editing did Housman do?
Giving advice to writers

Fact-checking things in newspapers

Determining which poems should be published

Reconstructing classic texts
8 Which of the following is true of the poems in A Shropshire Lad?
Most are autobiographical

Most are about athletes

Most feature rural narrators

Most employ a flowery style
9 How did Housman see poetry?
As a means of depicting beauty

As an expression of feeling

As a way of better understanding the classics

As an intellectual game
10 What is the overarching tone of Housman's poetry?
Ironic

Frustrated

Melancholic

Erotic
11 Which two stanzas of "To an Athlete Dying Young" most closely parallel one another?
Six and seven

One and two

Five and seven

One and seven
12 Who is the speaker in "To an Athlete"?
A close friend of the runner

A complete stranger

A member of the community

Housman himself
13 What is the point of view of "To an Athlete"?
First person plural

Third person distant

Third person close

First person singular
14 Which of the following does not contain the motif of "boundaries"?
And set you at your threshold down

And hold to the low lintel up

The fleet foot on the sill of shade

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
15 What does the speaker want?
For the runner to defend his title

For the runner to come back from the death

For the runner to hold onto life

For the runner to embrace death
16 Which movement does Housman's subject matter most resemble?
Gothic

Romantic

Modernist

Neoclassical
17 Which of the following best describes Housman's diction in "To an Athlete"?
Minimalist

Emotive

Descriptive

Extensive
18 Which of the following is NOT a similarity between "To an Athlete" and ancient Roman poetry?
Focus on honor

Depiction of the afterlife

Use of iambic meter

Stripped-down style
19 What does the laural symbolize?
The ephemerality of fame

The eternal glory of fame

The pointlessness of fame

The joy of fame
20 How does "To an Athlete" describe death?
As a continuation of life

As a closing off from the world of the living

As a period of eternal punishment

As the time when one's good deeds are rewarded
21 Which text does Housman's depiction of the afterlife likely allude to?
The Bible

The Odyssey

The Aeneiad

The Iliad
22 Housman compares the runner to a girl in the last line. What does this most plausibly suggest, given the rest of the poem?
The runner was in touch with his feminine side

Death is desirable because it brings androgyny

Masculinity is tragically short-lived

Masculinity is inferior to femininity
23 What does Housman's return to the laurel in the final stanza suggest about the athlete's fame amongst the dead?
It will be false

It will be short-lived

It will diminish his strength of character

It will only come when he is old
24 To what does Housman most consistently compare death?
An architectural space

A shady place

A lost race

A deep sleep
25 How does Housman depict the loss of fame?
As a kind of freedom

As a minor problem

As a kind of death

As the runner's fault

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