Name _____________

British Poetry Quiz

1. What is noticeable about George Herbert’s poem “The Altar”? _____
a) the shape
b) the color
c) the story about a young boy

2. Mark the rhyme in William Cowper’s poem “The Saints Should Never Be Dismay’d”.
“The Saints Should Never Be Dismay’d”

_____ The saints should never be dismay’d

_____ Nor sink in hopeless fear.
_____ For when they least expect his aid,
_____ Their savior will appear.

_____ Wait for his seasonable aid,

_____ And though it tarry, wait.
_____ The answer may be long delay’d
_____ But cannot come too late.

3. Gerard Manley Hopkins loved to use alliteration in his poetry. Write a sentence or line of your
own poetry that contains three alliterating words.

4. In “recessional”, which of these poetic tools did Rudyard Kipling use? _____
a) metaphor
b) repetition
c) anachronisms

5. In “The Divine Image” by William Blake, the words “dear” and “care” are examples of: _____
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our Father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is man, His child and care.

a) alliteration
b) metaphor
c) assonance
6. Circle three examples of imagery used by Percy Bysshe Shelley in the poem “Ozymandias” to
give the reader a sensory experience.
I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

7. Which of the following is a famous nonsense poem? _____

a) “Pippa Passes”
b) “In the Bleak Midwinter”
c) “Jabberwocky”

8. Circle the words that Robert Browning used in “Pippa Passes” to show that Pippa was happy:
The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven’
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snails on the thorn;
God’s in his Heaven –
All’s right with the world!

9. Which of the following poems is a ballad? _____

a) Sir Walter Scott’s “Lochinvar”
b) George Herbert’s “The Altar”
c) William Blake’s “The Divine Image”

10. Which poem contains a powerful metaphor that explains the author’s desire for peace? _____
a) Sir Walter Scott’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
b) William Butler Yeats’ “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
c) Christina Rosetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter”