Q. Which of the following lines has an example of alliteration from Gray's "Elegy"?

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day"

"The plowman homeward plods his weary way"
"And leaves the world to darkness and to me"
"Molest her ancient solitary reign"

1. What do you think prompts the speaker to start thinking about his own death?
For the first twenty or so stanzas, he's cheerfully thinking about the dead
villagers. What shifts, and why?
2. Why do you think Gray uses so much personification? Why, for example, does
he say "Let not Ambition mock their useful toil" in line 29, instead of, "Hey,
ambitious people, don't make fun of these guys"? What's the effect on your
reading? 
3. In his Preface to Lyrical Ballads (which you can access here), William
Wordsworth famously used Thomas Gray as an example of what poets
should not do. He said that Gray used too much of what he called "unnatural"
language—too many metaphors, too many personifications. Wordsworth argued
that regular people didn't really talk like that, so poets shouldn't, either. Do you
agree with Wordsworth? Why or why not? See if you can use examples from the
poem to explain your answer.
4. Who do you think is the intended audience of this poem? Men, women? Rich
people, poor people? Young or old? Why do you think so?
5. If this is an "Elegy," or a poem of mourning, who or what is it mourning? How do
you know?
6. Why do you think Gray insisted so much on the fact that it's
a country churchyard? Would the poem be different if it were set in a city? How
so?
7. What do you imagine people will say about you after you're dead? What would
you like them to say? If you could write your own epitaph, as Gray does in this
poem, what would it say?
8. Question 1
9. The speaker's tone in the second stanza is:
10. a
11. Joyous
12. b
13. Angry
14. c
15. Somber
16. d
17. Tearful
18. help Question Difficulty: 3 (74% get this right)
19. ✔
20. Question 2
21. What time of day is it when the poem begins?
22. a
23. Early morning
24. b
25. Midnight
26. c
27. Noon
28. d
29. Late afternoon
30. help Question Difficulty: 3 (73% get this right)
31. ✔
32. Question 3
33. What animal "complains" in the third stanza?
34. a
35. A goat
36. b
37. A cow
38. c
39. An owl
40. d
41. A mule
42. help Question Difficulty: 2 (80% get this right)
43. ✘
44. Question 4
45. What sounds does the speaker hear?
46. a
47. The knell of the church bell and cows lowing
48. b
49. Grass rustling between the tombstones and footsteps
50. c
51. A rooster crowing and children laughing
52. d
53. A lark singing and a wheelbarrow rolling
54. help Question Difficulty: 3 (74% get this right)
55. ✔
56. Question 5
57. What has been disrupted in the fourth stanza?
58. a
59. The earth, because of the digging of graves
60. b
61. The speakers train of thought as he contemplates death
62. c
63. Mourners
64. d
65. The day as it succumbs to night

66. What is the priest doing at the beginning of play?

 67. Asking the gods for help to stop the plague
68.  Accusing Oedipus of killing Laius
69.  Asking Teiresias to predict the future
70. Where did Oedipus send Creon to at the beginning of the play?
71. To the Oracle of Delphi
72.  To be banished from Thebes
73. To the crossroads to find Laius
74. What should happen to the killer of Laius when he is found?
75.  He must be put in jail for life
76.  He must be sacrificed for the Sphinx
77. He must be banished from Thebes or put to death
78. Why didn't anyone go investigate the murder of Lauis when it happened? (Why
did they wait so many years after his death?)
79.  Jocasta went into labor with Oedipus
80.  The people wanted to cover up Oedipus's murder of Laius
81. The Sphinx was attacking the city
 What does Oedipus announce to the people of Thebes after he hears the news from the
Oracle?

 That if the killer of Laius confesses now, he will only be banished

 That if anyone know who killed Laius, they should come and tell
Oedipus
Both A and B
Who did the people of Thebes think had killed Laius?
 Teiresias
Jocasta
Robbers

What does Teiresias tell Oedipus when he arrives?

That he knows who killed Laius, but he won't tell Oedipus
 That Jocasta killed Laius, so she could sleep with Creon
 That Creon killed Laius
 How does Oedipus respond when Teiresias accuses him of killing Lauis?

 He turns himself in to jail

 He is happy to know the truth
He accuses Teiresias of murdering Laius with Creon
How would you describe Oedipus attitude at the beginning of the play?
 Arrogant and sure of himself
 A bad king who is very lazy
 Stupid and easily tricked
Where was Lauis killed?
While fighting in a battle
Traveling to Delphi
 In jail for killing his son
Why does Jocasta's story about the prophecy that Lauis received upset Oedipus?
 His father, Polybus, was killed in the same way
He killed at man on the road
 He fought in the battle that Laius was killed in
What did the Oracle tell Oedipus when he was a young boy?
 That his mother was Jocasta
 That he should never go to Thebes
That he would marry his mother and kill his father
What did the Oracle tell Oedipus when he was a young boy?
 That his mother was Jocasta
 That he should never go to Thebes
That he would marry his mother and kill his father
Who gave Oedipus to Polybus and Merope when he was a baby?
 The Sphinx
Teiresias
The messenger
How does Jocasta respond to the messenger's story?
 She stabs the messenger
She is horribly upset and begs Oedipus to stop asking questions
 She is happy that the truth has come out

What happens to Oedipus at the end of the play?

A. He stabs himself in the eyes
B. He is banished from Thebes
C. Both A and B

Both A and B

How does Jocasta respond to the messenger's story?

A. She stabs the messenger
B. She is horribly upset and begs Oedipus to stop asking questions
C. She is happy that the truth has come out
1Virgil appears to lead Dante back to the path of righteousness because
he is a fellow-poet.
Beatrice asked him to do so.
n/a
God told him to do so.
The river that does not appear in the Inferno is
n/a
Cocytus.
Lethe.
Phlegethon.
Usurers are damned for
fraud.
greed.
violence.
lust.
The souls who are stung by wasps outside of Hell are
the neutral souls.
the fallen angels.
non-Christians, who were not admitted into the places of reward and
of punishment of Christianity.
n/a
How many circles of hell are presented in the poem?
 Six

  Twelve

  Nine

  Eighteen

How many cantos does "Inferno" have?

  31

  32

  33

  34
In which circle are Virgil and Aristotle placed in?

  Third Circle (Gluttony)

  Fourth Circle (Avarice)

  Second Circle (Lust)

  First Circle (Limbo)

Which beast decides the extent of the sinners' torment in

hell and in which circle they are to be tortured?
  Cerberus

  Hydra

  Minos

  Satan

Which city did Dante come from and was exiled from?
Appears frequently throughout the work.
  Florence

  Venice

  Rome

  Milan

Which is the third circle of the inferno?

  Gluttony

  Violence

  Anger

  Lust

Which of the following sins is punished most harshly in

the inferno?
  Heresy

  Violence

  Anger

  Treachery
How many ditches are included in Circle Eight of the
inferno?
  12

  14

  10

  8

What is the second round of the ninth circle called?

  Judecca

  Caina

  Ptolomaea

  Antenora

Which three beasts does Dante encounter when trying to

climb the mountain in Canto I?
  Lion, Leopard, She-Wolf

  Serpent, Leopard, She-Wolf

  Lion, Serpent, She-Wolf

  Lion, Dragon, Leopard

Who sent Virgil to find Dante and bring him through the
inferno?
  Joan of Arc

  Sarah

  Beatrice

  Dante's mother

Who is the boatman on the River Acheron?

  Minos

  Charon

  Cerberus

  A centaur

Which work is Dante's guide, the poet Virgil famous for?

   The Iliad

  The Odyssey

  The Aeneid

  Republic

On which religious observance does Dante begin his

journey?
  Easter Sunday

  Good Friday

  Christmas

  Yom Kippur

What punishment is given to those who commit suicide?

  Burned alive

  Placed in rivers of blood

  Souls trapped in tree trunks

  Repetitive Deaths

Which of the following passed successfully through the

underworld before Dante?
  Solomon

  Aeneas

  Aristotle

  Julius Caesar

Who was pulled out of the limbo circle during the

harrowing of hell?
  Noah

  Virgil

  Thomas Aquinas

  St. Augustine

Does the house belong to a man or woman?

  man 
Where is the house?"  

The village

 By the road

 The woods
 There is no house

Why does the narrator stop by the woods?

To see the woods fill up with snow

 To see the fires burning

 To hear the harness bells
 To see the stars twinkling

What must think it's queer to stop? A little horse 

Who/what gives his harness bells a shake? The little horse