Poetry Exam Spring 2024
Student Name: Tiffany Theriault
1. “Valediction Forbidding Mourning”
a. John Donne
b. Billy Collins
c. Wilfred Owen
d. William Carlos Williams
e. Thomas Hardy
2. “The Red Wheelbarrow
a. Billy Collins
b. John Donne
c. William Carlos Williams
d. Thomas Hardy
e. Robert Hayden
3. “The Man He Killed
a. Robert Hayden
b. Wilfred Owen
c. Thomas Hardy
d. William Carlos Williams
e. Billy Collins
4. “Those Winter Sundays
a. Billy Collins
b. Robert Hayden
c. Sylvia Plath
d. John Donne
e. Wilfred Owen
5. “Introduction to Poetry”
a. Thomas Hardy
b. Wilfred Owen
c. Billy Collins
d. Robert Hayden
e. John Donne
6. “Dulce et Decorum Est”
a. John Donne
b. Thomas Hardy
c. William Carlos Williams
d. Wilfred Owen
e. Billy Collins
2
7. “Because I could not Stop For Death”
a. Wilfred Owen
b. Emily Dickinson
c. Sylvia Plath
d. Afred, Lord Tennyson
e. Billy Collins
8. “Ulysses”
a. William Carlos Williams
b. Emily Dickinson
c. Billy Collins
d. Robert Hayden
e. Afred, Lord Tennyson
9. “Metaphors”
a. Emily Dickinson
b. Sylvia Plath
c. Billy Collins
d. Robert Hayden
e. William Carlos Williams
10. Which three poems were dramatic monologues?
a. “Valediction, Forbidding Mourning”
b. “The Man He Killed”
c. “Those Winter Sundays”
d. “Dulce et Decorum Est”
e. “Introduction to Poetry”
11. Free verse describes
a. Any poem written in iambic pentameter
b. Any poem that is broken into lines but is not governed by regular meter or rhyme
scheme
c. Any poem written before 1900
d. All poetry
12. Blank verse may be defined as
a. Unrhymed limes of poetry in iambic pentameter
b. A pause that occurs during a line of poetry
c. A reference to a person, place or thing, real or fictional, outside the text.
d. Poetic verse without a clear meter or rhyme scheme
13. Which of the poems that we read was a blank verse?
The man he killed
3
14. Which of the following is an example of a metaphor?
a. The sea called to me.
b. The stones like razors.
c. The sunlight is shards of glass.
d. The wind is calm as a whisper.
15. A simile is
a. A break within a line of poetry
b. A comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
c. A statement with two levels of meaning
d. A repetition of consonants at the beginning of words.
16. Poetry is the most ____________ form of literature
a. Fluid and imaginative
b. Condensed and concentrated
c. Restrictive and closed
d. Expansive and rhyming
17. “Joy and Temperance and repose / Slam the door on the doctor’s nose.”
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Personification
d. Oxymoron
18. “Talent is a cistern; genius is a fountain”
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Personification
d. Paradox
19. A symbol is defined as
a. Something that means more than what it is
b. Something that can be taken out of the work with no problems in the text
c. The same thing as a motif
20. The difference between a symbol and an allegory is
a. There is no difference
b. An allegory is a narrative that has two levels of meaning while the symbol is
usually an object in the narrative that has a second level of meaning.
c. A symbol is a narrative that has two levels of meaning while the allegory is an
object in the narrative that has second level of meaning.
4
21. “For years the Mirror reported her doings / With every appearance of respect”
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Personification
d. Allusion
e. Paradox
22. “the black noses of your shoes with their large pores”
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Personification
d. Paradox
e. None of the above
23. “Poetry is a language that tells us, through a more or less emotional reaction, something
that cannot be said.”
a. Oxymoron
b. Paradox
c. Metonymy
d. Allusion
e. None of the above
24. “Leaves got up in a coil and hissed”
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Personification
d. Metonymy
e. None of the above
25. “And all the time she stood there hot as fever / And cold as any icicle.
a. Simile
b. Personification
c. Paradox
d. Oxymoron
e. Metaphor
26. Beauty is but a flower
a. Simile
b. Oxymoron
5
c. Paradox
d. Metaphor
e. Personification
27. “Lovely muck”
a. Simile
b. Paradox
c. Metaphor
d. Oxymoron
e. Personification
28. In “The Red Wheelbarrow,”
a. What is the wheelbarrow next to?
chickens
b. How does the layout affect the poem’s content?
it emphasizes the simplicity and significance of the scene described
29. What are the three similes in "Valediction, Forbidding Mourning"?
simile and what is the meaning
a. "But we by a love so much refined, That ourselves know not what it is, inter-
assured Of the mind, care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss."
MEANING: The love between the speaker and beloved is pure
b. "Our two souls, therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A
breach, but an expansion."
MEANING: The souls of the speaker and the beloved are one.
c. "Dull sublunary lovers' love cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove Those
things which elemented it."
MEANING: The love is compared to those of lovers
30. What is the overall meaning of “Valediction, Forbidding Mourning”?
The nature of true love and the strength of the bond between the speaker and his beloved
31. Whom is the speaker in this poem talking to? (“Dulce et Decorum Est”)
6
The general public
32. What are the two war poems that we studied? Next to the title, identify the emotional
tone that each poem expresses.
Title emotional tone
a.
The man he killed, regretful and sad
b.
dulce et decorum est., bitter
33. What secular tune can “Because I could not stop for Death” be sung to?
The yellow rose of texas
34. In “Metaphors,” the speaker uses each line in the poem to describe her __
PREGNANCY
Passages from the poems:
`
1. But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
a. Title:
The man he killed
b. What is the reason that the speaker gives for shooting the other man
They were both soldiers, and were enemies.
c. What was his reason for joining?
He had nothing better to do.
7
2. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
a. Title
Dulce et Decorum est.
b. What type of musical device does “guttering, choking, drowning” represent?
onomatopoeia
c. What does he want his listener to stop doing?
Stop glorifying war.
3. I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the ways for a light switch.
a. Title
Introduction to poetry
b. What does the speaker in the poem want students to do?
Engage with poetry rather than just simply reading it
c. What do the students want to do?
They want to approach it in a more traditional way.
4. Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
8
Title:
Those winter sundays
What exactly had the person done for the speaker (beyond these lines)?
Multiple acts of service such as driving out the cold, getting wood for fire, making food,
ect.
What is the tone? How do you know?
The tone is one of regret. You can tell from how the kid talks. The kid wishes that he
would have showed his father more appreciation
5. Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Title:
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
What figurative language is represented in this section?
Metaphor
What is the “moving of the earth”?
It is talking about the changes in the earth that cause disruption
6. We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun
Title: because I could not stop for death
What does this above passage represent?
The journey of life from life to death
What is the allegory that this poem represents?
The journey from life to death
9
7. And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Title: ulysees
What does the speaker want to do?
He wants to seek more knowledge and adventure as he gets older.
What is the traditional interpretation of this poem?
The traditional interpretation of this poem is that one wants more in life and will do
anything to get more.
For the following poem – “Richard Cory” write the answers -- whether they are letters, words
or phrases -- next to the letter.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
8. Identify / answer the following
10
a. The rhyme scheme
ABAB
b. Name at least three words / phrases that illustrate how the people view him
“CLEAN FAVORED”, “IMPERIALLY SLIM”, AND “GLITTERED WHEN HE
WALKED”
c. Who are the “people on the pavement”? What does this phrase suggest about
these people?
Ordinary citizens
d. How did Richard Cory treat the people?
He was polite and greeted each with a “good morning”.
e. What is the point (theme) of this poem?
To contrast outward appearance vs inward realities.
