modern poetry and poetics MCQs – Page 2

Practise focused modern poetry and poetics questions with marked answers for exam preparation and subject revision.

modern poetry and poetics Mcqs
51. Which of the following statements accurately compares Rupert Brookes The Soldier and Siegfried Sassoons The Rear Guard ?
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A. Both poems praise Britains military power and its imperial ambitions.

B. Both poems describe Britains civilizing mission in the world.

C. Both poems seek to respond to the harsh political and military realities of their day.

D. Both poems romanticize war and glorify the life of the soldier.

52. What are some of the surface similarities between Robert Frosts poem Out, Out and John Greenleaf Whittiers poem Telling the Bees ?
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A. They both address the theme of death.

B. Both use formal meter to present a narrative structure.

C. They are both set in rural New England.

D. All of these answers
53. The first stanza of Countee Cullens A Brown Girl Dead reads: With two white roses on her breasts,/White candles at head and feet,/Dark Madonna of the grave she rests;/Lord Death has found her sweet. Which of the following statements accurately characterizes these lines ?
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A. These lines evoke Christian imagery to emphasize the dignity of the girl who died.

B. These lines evoke Christian imagery to suggest that death erases racial divisions.

C. These lines present the problem of racial prejudice in an ironic mode.

D. Both A and B
54. Which of the following does Professor Hammer identify as one of the most important goals of Imagist poetry ?
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A. The privileging of individual detail over the larger pattern

B. The privileging of image over sound

C. The privileging of rhythm over meaning

D. The privileging of colors over textures

55. Wilfred Owens Anthem for Doomed Youth begins with the following lines: What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?/ Only the monstrous anger of the guns./ Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle/Can patter out their hasty orisons. Which of the following statements best describes these lines ?
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A. These lines equate humans with animals, and they anthropomorphize weapons to show a world where there is no place for human values.

B. These lines suggest that the Great War lasted much longer than it should have.

C. These lines suggest that it was difficult to define patriotism during the Great War, but soldiers who died in battle provided the best example of patriotism.

D. These lines represent a modern funeral dirge that mimics the rhythm of ancient Greek funeral dirges.

56. Which of the following descriptions does NOT pertain to the Imagists ?
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A. Reliance on the language of common speech

B. Creative reliance on conventional poetic forms

C. Striving for concentrated expression and imagery

D. Total freedom in choosing the subject

57. What is the principal subject of Marianne Moores poem An Octopus ?
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A. The ocean

B. Mt. Rainier

C. An octopus

D. Death

58. Which of the following statements best characterizes Georgia Douglass Johnsons poem Black Woman ?
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A. This poem is a conversation between a black woman and a child who is not yet born.

B. This poem describes the relationship between a black woman and her child.

C. The poem is a conversation between a black woman and her ancestors.

D. This poem focuses primarily on the different experiences of black and white women.

59. Yeatss Song of Wandering Aengus ends with the lines: And pluck till time and times are done/The silver apples of the moon/The golden apples of the sun. Which of the following is NOT a symbolic meaning of the apples ?
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A. They symbolize the coming apocalypse.

B. They symbolize a fulfilled longing.

C. They symbolize the return to a lost paradise.

D. They point to alchemical elements, which in turn symbolize the body and the soul.

60. Which of the following best describes the types of imagery used in Louis Zukofskys poem, A: Seventh Movement: There Are Different Techniques ?
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A. Kabalistic imagery

B. Everyday imagery

C. Nationalist imagery

D. Historic and contemporary imagery
61. Which of the following literary devices are present in Langston Hughess poem Ku Klux ?
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A. Allegory

B. Irony

C. Alliteration

D. Oxymoron

62. Which of the following statements best characterizes the central questions faced by poetry after the Holocaust ?
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A. Is there a relationship between poetry and rationality after the Holocaust?

B. Is there a meaningful relationship between World War I poetry and World War II poetry?

C. Is it possible for Romantic themes in poetry to be meaningful after the Holocaust?

D. The horror of the Holocaust was inexpressible; how can poetry speak of what is inexpressible?
63. Which of the following writers authored the poem Dulce et Decorum Est?
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A. Rudyard Kipling

B. Siegfried Sassoon

C. Rupert Brooke

D. Wilfred Owen
64. Which of the following statements best characterizes the difference between Futurism and Vorticism ?
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A. Members of both movements were fascinated by speed and dynamism, but unlike the Futurists, Vorticists did not celebrate technology and industrialization.

B. Futurism was a politically-inclined movement, whereas Vorticism was free of all political entanglements.

C. Futurism lasted for several decades, whereas Vorticism was short-lived.

D. Vorticists celebrated technology and industrialization, whereas Futurists explored impending cultural challenges regarding technology and industrialization.

65. Professor Hammer argues that in Hart Cranes poem Legend, Crane introduces himself to his readers. The poem opens with the lines: As silent as a mirror is believed/ Realities plunge in silence by /I am not ready for repentance; according to Professor Hammer, Cranes refusal to repent is an assertion of which of the following ?
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A. His political views

B. His will to imaginative freedom

C. His will to sexual freedom

D. Both B and C
66. In analyzing T.S. Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Professor Hammer argues that Eliot creates something that might be called which of the following ?
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A. A meditation on contradictions

B. Implicit dialogue with the future

C. Overheard inner speech

D. Objective correlative

67. Professor Hammer argues that which of the following statements is true of Ezra Pounds strong emphasis on poetic technique ?
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A. It serves to effectively depersonalize Pounds poems.

B. It serves the greater aim of conveying both intensity and immediacy in Pounds poetry.

C. It is a paradoxical mixture of personal and impersonal elements.

D. It is a means of creating a dialogue between modernity and tradition.

68. What is the central theme of Keith Douglass How to Kill ?
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A. It is honorable and just to defend your country in a war.

B. There is a right and a wrong way to throw a hand grenade.

C. Combat detaches a man from humanity.

D. All is fair in love and war.

69. Which of the following best describes theidea of the symbol among French Symbolist poets ?
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A. A symbol is an image that conveys powerful emotional states.

B. A symbol is a description of past realities.

C. A symbol is a metaphor that allows the poet to capture complex social realities.

D. A symbol is an emblem of the actual world endowed with supernatural meanings.
70. Complete the following sentence. Professor Hammer argues that Ezra Pounds interest in fascism and his anti-Semitic views were likely an outcome of his______________?
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A. endorsement of Marxism.

B. interest in ancient Rome.

C. interest in Fouriers utopian socialist thought.

D. anti-capitalism.
71. In his essay The Symbolism of Poetry, William Butler Yeats argues that which of the following is the purpose of rhythm ?
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A. To amplify and clarify the indistinct emotions created by metaphorical symbols

B. To counteract the forces of dispersal inherent in metaphorical language

C. To prolong the moment of contemplation

D. To make poetry new

72. Which of the following statements best expresses the difference between how visual images functioned in World War I poetry and Imagist poetry ?
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A. The Imagists relied on visual images to achieve clarity of expression, whereas World War I poets relied on visual images to subtly punctuate their often desperate political messages.

B. WorldWar I poets valued clarity of expression through visual images, whereas Imagists relied on complex expression through emotional visual images.

C. The Imagists valued brevity, which could be achieved with precise visual images, whereasWorldWar I poets preferred declamatory statements in their poems.

D. There were no significant differences in the functioning of visual images in these two types of poetry.

73. Which of the following statements best characterizes Langston Hughess poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers ?
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A. It is a meditation on the communal and historical aspects of individual identity.

B. It is a meditation on the alienation of the modern person from nature.

C. It is a meditation on the poets personal experience of assimilation.

D. It is a meditation on the cultural isolation of African Americans in New England.

74. Violet Cristoforo was honored for collecting what kind of poetry in her anthology May Sky ?
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A. Love sonnets from the Nazi death camps

B. Jewish dissident poetry from the gulags in Siberia

C. Haiku poetry from the Japanese internment camps in the US

D. American G.I. poetry from German prisoner of war camps

75. Which of the following statements best characterizes the difference between World War II poetry and Futurist poetry ?
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A. The Futurists praised speed, whereas World War II poets often evoked images of nature to describe the human condition.

B. The Futurists privileged the part over the whole, whereas World War II poets did not deal with the problem of modernity and alienation.

C. The Futurists focused on advancements in technology and industry, whereas World War II poets ignored advancements in technology, especially in modern warfare.

D. The Futurists apotheosized technology, whereas World War II poets often focused on technologys destructive powers.
76. Which of the following descriptors does NOT apply to the features of French Symbolist poetry that influenced other modernist poetry ?
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A. French Symbolist poetry is full of exaggerated metaphors.

B. French Symbolist poetry is formally experimental.

C. French Symbolist poetry is shocking.

D. French Symbolist poetry has narrative clarity.
77. Why was World War II a defining event in the history of the 20th century ?
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A. It was followed by the Cold War, which affected international politics throughout the world.

B. It brought unprecedented destruction and loss of life, thereby putting into question the entirecultural and political legacy of Western civilization.

C. All of these answers

D. It was followed by Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and by the entrenchment of the Soviet totalitarian system of rule.

78. Which of the following best characterizes T.S. Eliots concept of the objective correlative ?
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A. The objective correlative refers to a set of objects, situations, or events which necessarily produce a particular emotion.

B. The objective correlative refers to the correlation between the poems theme and its objective historical context.

C. The objective correlative refers to the correlation between the poems formal structure and its meaning.

D. The objective correlative refers to the correlation between the poems formal structure and its rhetorical aim.

79. Which of the following natural forces speaks in the culminating passage of T.S. Eliots The Waste Land ?
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A. Rapids

B. The west wind

C. An avalanche

D. Thunder
80. Which of the following statements accurately characterizes Marianne Moores poem A Grave ?
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A. It juxtaposes human consciousness against the sea.

B. It uses alliteration and iambic pentameter.

C. It has a subtle formal structure, even though it does not use rhyme.

D. Both A and C
81. Complete the following sentence. Poetic images which idealize war and ascribe spiritual qualities to battle can be found primarily in English poems written_______________?
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A. around 1900.

B. in the 1920s.

C. in the late stages of World War I.

D. in the early stages of World War I.

82. Which of the following statements best characterizes the role played by Gertrude Stein in American modernism ?
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A. Stein was primarily a muse for modernist poets.

B. Stein was a proponent of low modernism.

C. Stein was a crucially important figure in the Paris migr community.

D. Stein was an opponent of vanguard trends.

83. Which of the following best describes the reasons why World War I had a profound impact on modern poetry ?
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A. The devastation wrought by World War I was so enormous that it put Europes cultural and political norms and values into question.

B. The mechanized killing, which took place on a massive scale during World War I, made it necessary to reflect about the effects of technological progress.

C. World War I was the first global conflict where the distinction between combatants and civilians was erased, and this had a devastating effect on the European psyche.

D. Both A and B
84. Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the relationship between Italian Futurism and its historical context ?
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A. The Italian Futurists were fascinated by the age of electric and chemical power, and they praised the beauty of automobiles.

B. All of these answers

C. The Italian Futurists lived within a quickly changing social world, and they praised speed.

D. Marinetti and other Italian Futurists supported Mussolinis fascism.

85. Ezra Pounds poem In a Station of the Metro reads: The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough. Which of the following statements best characterizes this poem ?
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A. It evokes the beauty of a pastoral scene.

B. It plays with the relationship between the social, natural, and supernatural worlds.

C. It seeks to amplify the distance between society and nature.

D. It seeks to diminish the distance between society and nature.

86. What does Gertrude Steins term the Lost Generation designate ?
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A. It refers to a group of talented American migr writers who lived in Europe after World War I.

B. It refers to the young generation whose coming of age was interrupted by World War I.

C. It refers to English poets who sought refuge in New York City after World War I ended.

D. Both A and B
87. Many critics see similarities between the tenets of Futurism and which of the following political philosophies ?
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A. Libertarianism

B. Democracy

C. Marxism

D. Fascism
88. Which of the following traditions was particularlyimportant in Hart Cranes modernist poetry ?
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A. French Classicism

B. British Romanticism

C. American Romanticism

D. German Romanticism

89. In Wallace Stevenss poem The Man on the Dump, one can say that the trash symbolizes which of the following ?
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A. The broken dreams of the American migr community in Paris

B. Old poetry

C. Artifacts from foreign cultures which do not fit into the American cultural context

D. The failed attempt of modern poetry

90. In his essay The Roots of Modernism, Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe defines the modern period in the history of art as the time from roughly 1860 to 1970. How does he say modernism is typically defined ?
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A. Modernism is the art produced during the modern period.

B. Modernism is the historical period which followed the modern period.

C. Modernism is the philosophy of modern art.

D. Both A and C
91. Which of the following best characterizes the contrast between Gertrude Steins poetry and Imagist poetry ?
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A. Stein experimented only with the sound qualities of language, whereas the Imagists focused on visual imagery.

B. Stein experimented with language that skirted the edges of sense, whereas the Imagists sought precision and clarity of expression.

C. Stein sought precision and clarity in her poems, whereas the Imagists sought experimental forms that enhanced visual imagery.

D. Stein sought to combine classical poetic form with contemporary content, whereas the Imagists used traditional poetic subject matter but experimented with form.

92. According to the literary critic, Paul Fussell, which of the following was a central trope of English poetry written during the Great War ?
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A. Patriotic imagery

B. Apocalyptic imagery

C. Nihilism

D. Irony
93. One of the dominant themes in Wallace Stevenss poem Sunday Morning consists of the juxtaposition of nature against which set of cultural symbols ?
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A. The ideal of courtly love

B. The Renaissance concept of humanism

C. The alchemical concept of the philosophers stone

D. Elements of the Christian narrative of salvation
94. Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between Georgian poetry and English World War I poetry ?
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A. World War I poets like Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen adapted the Georgian poetic manner to write about modern subjects; most Georgian poets focused on individual experience and avoided writing about the upheavals of modernity.

B. Unlike World War I poetry, Georgian poetry was concerned primarily with womens rights.

C. Georgian poetry was modeled on World War I poetry and adapted its insights to postwar realities.

D. Unlike World War I poetry, Georgian poetry was concerned primarily with the effects of urbanization and industrialization.

95. Which of the following poets would most likely be categorized as a late-Victorian poet ?
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A. John Milton

B. Alfred Tennyson

C. Amy Lowell

D. Allen Ginsberg

96. According to W.E.B. Dubois in his Atlantic Monthly essay, The Strivings of the Negro People, what are some of the personal consequences for an African- American living in a racist society at the beginning of the 20th century ?
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A. All of the above

B. Becoming a stuttering sycophant just to survive

C. Wrapping yourself in the armor of anger and resentment

D. Feeling like an outcast in your own house

97. Which of the following statements best characterizes Randall Jarrells 1945 poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner ?
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A. The poem contrasts the image of a child in its mothers womb with cruel devaluation of human life in wartime.

B. The poem praises those technological achievements which protect human life in wartime.

C. The poem uses images of the apocalypse to criticize the cruelty of war.

D. The poem presents the war as a natural part of the perennial cycles of human history.

98. H.D.s poem Oread reads: WHIRL up, sea-/Whirl your pointed pines./Splash your great pines/On our rocks./Hurl your green over us-/Cover us with your pools of fir. To which of the following categories does this poem belong ?
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A. Futurist poetry

B. Vorticist poetry

C. Objectivist poetry

D. Imagist poetry