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Sonnet 55 - Test
Contributed by: Bennett
  • 1. In which year were William Shakespeare's sonnets published?
A) 1609
B) 1599
C) 1588
D) 1616
  • 2. How many sonnets did William Shakespeare publish in 1609?
A) 200
B) 100
C) 154
D) 120
  • 3. What is the rhyme scheme of a typical English or Shakespearean sonnet?
A) ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
B) AABB CCDD EEFF GG
C) ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
D) ABC ABC DEF DEF
  • 4. What type of poetic metre is used in Sonnet 55?
A) Trochaic tetrameter
B) Iambic pentameter
C) Dactylic dimeter
D) Anapestic hexameter
  • 5. What does Sonnet 55 claim will outlast physical monuments?
A) War memorials
B) Statues of princes
C) Masonry structures
D) The poem itself
  • 6. Which ancient works are referenced in Sonnet 55?
A) Dante's Divine Comedy and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
B) Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Poetics
C) Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad
D) Horace's Odes and Ovid's Metamorphoses
  • 7. What does John Crowe Ransom point out about the promises of immortality in Sonnet 55?
A) It clearly describes the young man's physical features
B) It guarantees eternal life for both the poet and the subject
C) It focuses on the poet's own immortality
D) The poem is self-refuting as it keeps the young man mostly hidden
  • 8. What does Lars Engle argue about Shakespeare's claim regarding poetry?
A) He argues that statues are more enduring than poetry
B) Engle believes Shakespeare's poetry is inferior to ancient works
C) Shakespeare bestows immortality on another through his poetry, unlike Horace and Ovid who claimed it for themselves
D) Shakespeare claims that only royalty can achieve immortality
  • 9. What does Ernest Fontana focus on in the second quatrain of Sonnet 55?
A) The epithet 'sluttish time'
B) The beauty of the young man
C) The grandeur of monuments
D) The power of war
  • 10. According to Fontana, what does Shakespeare's use of 'besmeared' imply?
A) It signifies the purity of marble monuments
B) It describes the weathering of stone statues
C) It metaphorically refers to syphilis and its effects on the body
D) It highlights the resilience of masonry
  • 11. How does Helen Vendler describe the speaker's attitude towards entities connected to the beloved?
A) The speaker always regards them with contempt
B) The speaker bestows grandeur on them when connected to the beloved, but mocks them otherwise
C) The speaker only focuses on their physical attributes
D) The speaker is indifferent to their connection to the beloved
  • 12. What theme does Vendler argue revolves around in Sonnet 55?
A) The glory of war
B) The beauty of nature
C) The inevitability of death
D) The keyword 'live'
  • 13. What does the couplet in Sonnet 55 suggest about the young man's existence?
A) 'Real' living is assigned to the day of the Last Judgment, but he also lives in memory and lovers' eyes
B) The young man will only live physically until the Last Judgment
C) His existence is limited to the poem itself
D) He will cease to exist after his death
  • 14. Where was an epitaph written in memory of Shakespeare found?
A) The Globe Theatre
B) Westminster Abbey
C) The British Museum
D) The Folger Library
  • 15. What style of handwriting was used for the epitaph found in the Folger Library?
A) Cursive script
B) Secretary hand
C) Italic hand
D) Gothic script
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