Poetry Appreciation — GK Questions with Answers

1. A foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one is called —
   1. Trochee
   2. Iamb
   3. Dactyl
   4. Spondee
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   Answer: (B) Iamb

   da-DUM is the iamb, the commonest foot in English verse.

2. "Blank verse" is best defined as —
   1. verse with no metre and no rhyme
   2. unrhymed iambic pentameter
   3. rhymed iambic pentameter
   4. verse of irregular line length
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   Answer: (B) unrhymed iambic pentameter

   Unrhymed iambic pentameter — it keeps the beat but drops the rhyme. Free verse drops both.

3. Who introduced blank verse into English poetry?
   1. Geoffrey Chaucer
   2. Earl of Surrey
   3. Christopher Marlowe
   4. John Milton
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   Answer: (B) Earl of Surrey

   The Earl of Surrey used it in his translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. Marlowe and Milton later mastered it.

4. An alexandrine is a line of —
   1. iambic pentameter
   2. iambic tetrameter
   3. iambic hexameter
   4. iambic trimeter
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   Answer: (C) iambic hexameter

   Six iambic feet, twelve syllables. Spenser closes each of his stanzas with one.

5. The Spenserian stanza consists of —
   1. seven lines rhyming ababbcc
   2. eight lines rhyming abababcc
   3. nine lines rhyming ababbcbcc
   4. ten lines rhyming ababccdeed
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   Answer: (C) nine lines rhyming ababbcbcc

   Nine lines — eight in pentameter plus a final alexandrine.

6. Rhyme royal has —
   1. six lines
   2. seven lines
   3. eight lines
   4. nine lines
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   Answer: (B) seven lines

   Seven lines rhyming ababbcc, brought into English by Chaucer.

7. Byron wrote Don Juan in —
   1. rhyme royal
   2. terza rima
   3. ottava rima
   4. the Spenserian stanza
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   Answer: (C) ottava rima

   Ottava rima — eight lines rhyming abababcc, ending in a couplet he used for comic effect.

8. A pause within a line of verse is called a —
   1. Caesura
   2. Enjambment
   3. Cadence
   4. Volta
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   Answer: (A) Caesura

   A caesura. Enjambment is the opposite idea — the line running on without a pause.

9. "Love" and "move" are an example of —
   1. half rhyme
   2. eye rhyme
   3. internal rhyme
   4. feminine rhyme
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   Answer: (B) eye rhyme

   They look as though they rhyme but do not sound alike — an eye rhyme.

10. Which poet is most associated with half rhyme or para rhyme?
    1. Walt Whitman
    2. Wilfred Owen
    3. Alexander Pope
    4. John Dryden
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    Answer: (B) Wilfred Owen

    Wilfred Owen used half rhyme throughout his war poems to create a jarring, unsettled sound.

11. The heroic couplet was perfected by —
    1. Chaucer and Gower
    2. Dryden and Pope
    3. Wordsworth and Coleridge
    4. Spenser and Sidney
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    Answer: (B) Dryden and Pope

    Chaucer introduced it; Dryden and Pope brought it to perfection in the Neoclassical age.

12. Terza rima rhymes —
    1. aabb ccdd
    2. abab bcbc
    3. aba bcb cdc
    4. abba cddc
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    Answer: (C) aba bcb cdc

    The middle line of each tercet supplies the rhyme for the next — a chain, used by Dante and Shelley.

13. A stanza of four lines is called a —
    1. Tercet
    2. Quatrain
    3. Sestet
    4. Octave
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    Answer: (B) Quatrain

    A quatrain — the commonest stanza in English poetry.

14. The In Memoriam stanza rhymes —
    1. abab
    2. abba
    3. aabb
    4. abcb
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    Answer: (B) abba

    Tennyson’s stanza is abba in iambic tetrameter. Gray’s elegiac stanza is abab.

15. "DUM-da-da" describes which foot?
    1. Anapaest
    2. Dactyl
    3. Trochee
    4. Amphibrach
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    Answer: (B) Dactyl

    One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed is a dactyl, as in MER-ri-ly.

16. Free verse differs from blank verse because free verse —
    1. rhymes
    2. has no regular metre
    3. is always short
    4. is used only in drama
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    Answer: (B) has no regular metre

    Blank verse keeps strict iambic pentameter; free verse has no fixed metre at all.

17. Scansion means —
    1. summarising a poem
    2. marking the stresses to find the metre
    3. naming the figures of speech
    4. writing a rhyme scheme
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    Answer: (B) marking the stresses to find the metre

    To scan a line is to mark its stressed and unstressed syllables and divide it into feet.

18. "The murmuring of innumerable bees" is an example of which imagery?
    1. Visual
    2. Auditory
    3. Tactile
    4. Gustatory
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    Answer: (B) Auditory

    It appeals to the ear, so the imagery is auditory.

19. Which is the weakest sentence in an appreciation answer?
    1. The abab rhyme keeps the poem calm, suiting its theme of acceptance.
    2. The poet uses alliteration in this line.
    3. The harsh k sounds make the speaker’s anger audible.
    4. The turn at line 9 moves the poem from despair to hope.
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    Answer: (B) The poet uses alliteration in this line.

    It names a device but says nothing about its effect. Always connect device to effect.

20. When the sense of a line runs on into the next line without a pause, it is called —
    1. End-stopping
    2. Enjambment
    3. Caesura
    4. Elision
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    Answer: (B) Enjambment

    Enjambment, also called a run-on line. An end-stopped line finishes with its sense complete.

More chapters in this subject

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• Literary Terms — The Full Glossary27 questions
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• Major Literary Movements20 questions
• Neoclassical to Modern20 questions
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