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The Prelude - Quiz
Contributed by: Halliday
  • 1. What is the full title of the poem known as The Prelude?
A) Growth of the Mind: A Study in Nature
B) The Life of William Wordsworth
C) The Recluse: An Autobiographical Journey
D) The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind; An Autobiographical Poem
  • 2. What poetic form is The Prelude written in?
A) Blank verse
B) Rhymed couplets
C) Sonnets
D) Free verse
  • 3. At what age did William Wordsworth begin writing The Prelude?
A) 25
B) 30
C) 28
D) 35
  • 4. Who gave The Prelude its present title after the poet's death?
A) Ernest de Sélincourt
B) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C) Dorothy Wordsworth
D) Mary, his widow
  • 5. How many versions of The Prelude are identified in the text?
A) Three
B) Two
C) Four
D) Five
  • 6. When was the 1850 version of The Prelude published?
A) Immediately upon his death
B) During his lifetime
C) Three months after Wordsworth's death
D) Ten years after his death
  • 7. The Prelude was intended as an introduction to which larger, unfinished project?
A) The Growth of the Mind
B) The Excursion
C) Paradise Lost
D) The Recluse
  • 8. Who published the 1805 version of The Prelude in 1926?
A) Dorothy Wordsworth
B) Ernest de Sélincourt
C) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D) Mary Wordsworth
  • 9. How many books are in the 1850 version of The Prelude?
A) 10
B) 13
C) 2
D) 14
  • 10. How many books are in the 1805 version of The Prelude?
A) 2
B) 14
C) 12
D) 13
  • 11. What was the 1799 version of The Prelude commonly called?
A) The Two-Part Prelude
B) The Coleridge Draft
C) The Preliminary Version
D) The Early Fragments
  • 12. With which poet did Wordsworth originally plan to write The Recluse?
A) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
B) Dorothy Wordsworth
C) Ernest de Sélincourt
D) John Milton
  • 13. Which existing epic poem did Wordsworth and Coleridge hope to surpass?
A) Paradise Lost
B) The Odyssey
C) The Divine Comedy
D) The Faerie Queene
  • 14. How old was Wordsworth when he died?
A) 75
B) 28
C) 80
D) 85
  • 15. What did Wordsworth do to the later parts of The Prelude during the end of his life?
A) Polished the style and qualified radical statements
B) Translated it into French
C) Added thousands of new lines
D) Destroyed all early manuscripts
  • 16. What was the initial working title Wordsworth used in letters to his sister?
A) Poem (title not yet fixed upon) to Coleridge
B) The Growth of a Poet's Mind
C) The Recluse
D) The Prelude
  • 17. Besides The Prelude, what was the only other part of The Recluse that Wordsworth finished?
A) Fragments of Nature
B) Paradise Lost
C) The Autobiographical Poem
D) The Excursion
  • 18. What is the primary subject of The Recluse according to Wordsworth's introduction?
A) The divine nature of the afterlife
B) A critique of John Milton's work
C) The sensations and opinions of a poet living in retirement
D) The history of the French Revolution
  • 19. What event caused many people to lose hope in the amelioration of mankind, according to Coleridge?
A) The industrial revolution
B) The Napoleonic Wars
C) The failure of the French Revolution
D) The death of John Milton
  • 20. How long would The Recluse have been compared to Paradise Lost?
A) Exactly the same length
B) Twice as long
C) About three times as long
D) Half the length
  • 21. Which poet does the text mention by name in line 181 of Book One?
A) Blake
B) T. S. Eliot
C) Coleridge
D) Milton
  • 22. Which book of The Prelude features the crossing of the Alps?
A) Book VI
B) Book I
C) Book X
D) Book XIV
  • 23. In the context of the poem, what do literal journeys become?
A) A guide for political reform
B) A critique of modern travel
C) A metaphorical vehicle for a spiritual journey
D) An account of historical geography
  • 24. What is the climactic ascent mentioned at the beginning of the final book?
A) The Alps
B) The Vale of Grasmere
C) Snowdon
D) Cambridge Hill
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