Death
Poetry
Grab Bag
Modernism
Transcendentalism
100

How did Sylvia Plath die?

1. She overdosed on sleeping pills

2. She put her head in the oven 

3. She hung herself

4. She is still alive 

2. What is she put her head in the oven 

100

How do you apply a rhyme scheme to a poem?

1. scan and mark the meter of the words

2. sing the poem out loud

3. add lowercase letters at the end of a line to indicate each new rhyme

4. What is a rhyme scheme? 

3. What is add lowercase letters at the end of the line to indicate each new rhyme? 
100

Who wrote the poem "I, Too"? 

1. Walt Whitman

2. Emily Dickinson

3. Sylvia Plath

4. Langston Hughes

4. Who is Langston Hughes?

100

Modernism is a literary and cultural period marked by a sense of what?

1. industrialism

2. nature

3. newness

4. conformity 

3. What is newness?

100
In what century was American transcendentalism created? 

1. 18th

2. 19th

3. 20st

4. 21st

2. What is the 19th century? 

200

What major life event influenced Plath’s poetry and eventual suicide?

  1. Her father’s death

  2. Her parent’s divorce

  3. Her brother’s suicide

  4. Her husband’s death 

1. What is her father's death? 

200

Which poem has 52 sections?

  1. “The Weary Blues”

  2. “Song of Myself”

  3. “Lady Lazarus”

  4. “I, Too”

2. What is "Song of Myself"?

200

Which American poet was inspired by Emerson’s lecture to become the great American poet?

  1. Emily Dickinson

  2. Langston Hughes

  3. Sylvia Plath

  4. Walt Whitman 

4. Who is Walt Whitman?

200

What writing theory is Hemingway known for inventing?

  1. Iceberg theory

  2. Elephant theory 

  3. The Pulitzer theory

  4. Theory of war writing

1. What is iceberg theory? 

200

Of the following, which one is not an element of transcendentalism:

  1. The importance of nature

  2. Self-reliance

  3. Conformity

  4. Free thought

3. What is conformity? 

300

Literary scholars tend to agree that the most common interpretation of Dickinson’s “I heard a fly buzz--when I died--” is that it is about

  1. Religious worship

  2. The importance of flies

  3. The mundanity of death

  4. Losing one’s hearing

3. What is the mundanity of death? 

300

Which American writer strongly influenced Langston Hughes, including Hughes’ inspiration for the poem, “I, Too [sing America]”?

  1. Henry David Thoreau

  2. Walt Whitman

  3. Emily Dickinson

  4. Ernest Hemingway

2. Who is Walt Whitman? 

300

Which of the following texts presents a story about a woman’s experience of postpartum depression?

  1. Dickinson “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers --,”

  2. Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”

  3. Hemingway’s “Hill Like White Elephants” 

  4. Perkin Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

4. What is Perkin Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

300

Which Amerian poet wrote about, and wrote during, the Harlem Renaissance?

  1. Ernest Hemingway

  2. Sylvia Plath

  3. Walt Whitman 

  4. Langston Hughes

4. Who is Langston Hughes?

300

In “Civil Disobedience,” what does Thoreau argue makes a government “best”?

  1. One that taxes often

  2. One that governs least 

  3. One that conquers the west 

  4. One that regulates land ownership

2. What is a government that governs least?

400

 In “Lady Lazarus,” how does Plath describe dying?

  1. It is an act of love

  2. It is a show

  3. It is an art

  4. It is a sweater 

3. What is, "it is an art"? 

400

Which American poet was inspired by Emerson’s lecture to become the great American poet?

  1. Emily Dickinson

  2. Langston Hughes

  3. Sylvia Plath

  4. Walt Whitman 

4. Who is Walt Whitman? 

400

Which American writer attended Divinity School and served as a minister before starting their writing career?

  1. Henry David Thoreau

  2. Walt Whitman

  3. Ralph Waldo Emerson

  4. Ernest Hemingway 

3. Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?

400

 In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” what is the discussion between the couple about?

  1. Adopting an exotic pet 

  2. Getting an abortion 

  3. Deciding to quit alcohol 

  4. Running away to America 

2. What is getting an abortion?

400

According to Emerson in “Self Reliance,” what should be a person’s source of knowledge? 

  1. intuition and personal experience

  2. nature and the outdoors 

  3. religion and God

  4. society and conformity 

1. What is intuition and personal experience? 

500

In Dickinson’s “I heard a fly buzz--when I died--,” the poet criticizes 19th-century Christian death rituals. According to these rituals, why did people stand around the body at the time of death?

  1. To mourn a lost life

  2. To see Jesus enter the room 

  3. To receive the deceased’s willed possessions

  4. To comfort the departing soul 

2. What is to see Jesus enter the room?

500

What does Plath say that she “had to do” in the poem “Daddy”?

  1. Pray to God

  2. Kill her dad

  3. Kiss her husband

  4. Kill herself 

2. What is kill her dad? 

500

Which author pushed back against the common theme of sentimentalism in 19th century American literature?

  1. Perkins Gilman

  2. Dickinson

  3. Emerson

  4. Thoreau

2. Who is Dickinson? 

500

In Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too,” who most likely represents “they” in the following line:  “They send me to eat in the kitchen”?

  1. His parents

  2. The band members

  3. The elders of his Church 

  4. The White people he works for

4. Who are the White people he works for? 

500

Name 3 transcendentalist texts. 

Answers vary. 

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