20th Century Poetry Unit II

Which disciple of Christ is the "Potter's Field" from Sitwell's poem associated with?

• Matthew, the tax collector

• Peter, the Rock

• Judas Iscariot

• Luke

A reference to the parable of Dives and Lazarus ("come from the dead") can be found in which 2 poems on your syllabus?

• "The Second Coming" and "Church Going"

• "The Hollow Men" and "Still Falls the Rain"

• "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Still Falls the Rain"

• "The Hollow Men" and "Memoriam"

"...Dark-smirched with pain

As Caesar’s laurel crown...."

What specific element of crucifixion iconology is referred to here?

• The sign marked "INRI" nailed atop the crucifix.

• The Crown of Thorns

• The spear-wound in Christ's side

What historic conflict event is Edith Sitwell's poem referring to?

• World War II at large.

• "The Blitz" or bombing of London

• The bombing of Pearl Harbour

• The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

At dusk, birch forest is a shore of bones.

I've pulled stones from the earth's black pockets,

felt the weight of their weariness - worn,

exhausted from their sleep in the earth.

I've written on my skin with their black sweat.

What specific geography do these lines evoke in Anne Michaels' poem?

• The native Canadian landscape

• The landscape of war-torn Europe

• Jewish displaced homes

Your mother's hand at the end of an empty sleeve,

scratching at your palm, drawing blood.

Your aunt in a Jewish graveyard in Poland,

her face a permanent fist of pain.

Your first friend, Saul, who died faster than

you could say forgive me.

When I was nine and crying from a dream

you said words that hid my fear.

Who do you think is the "you" Michaels addresses in 'Memoriam'?

• Her partner/husband

• A parent - it isn't specific

• Her mother

If there is a dominant elemental theme in Anne Michaels' 'Memoriam', what do you think it is?

• Earth

• Sky/Air

• Water

• All 3 elements are evoked in the poem.

What historic event is Anne Michaels' poem and her second-generation memory linked to?

• The Holocaust or "Shoah"

• World War II

• The Decolonization of Canada

• The Extinction of Native populations in Canada

Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and

Canals with floatings of industrial froth;

A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped

And rose: and now and then a smell of grass

Displaced the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth

Until the next town, new and nondescript,

Approached with acres of dismantled cars.

What vision and of where do Larkin's lines describe?

• The vistas of modern railway lines anywhere in the world

• The landscape of industrialized Europe

• The English suburban landscape of London

• The English rural and suburban landscape in modernity

Philip Larkin's profession: