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Storgy

Quiz — Storgy

Gerontion.

by T. S. Eliot.

Ten questions on craft, meaning, and form. Untimed. Answer every question to submit.

Q01of 10

The epigraph from Measure for Measure describes a state 'as it were, an after dinner sleep / Dreaming of both.' What does 'both' most likely refer to in the context of the poem?

Q02of 10

What is the dominant form of 'Gerontion' in terms of poetic structure?

Q03of 10

In the opening lines, the speaker says he 'was neither at the hot gates / Nor fought in the warm rain.' The phrase 'hot gates' is most plausibly an allusion to which historical event?

Q04of 10

The image of 'rocks, moss, stonecrop, iron, merds' in the first section primarily functions to convey what quality of the speaker's surroundings?

Q05of 10

Eliot writes 'History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors / And issues.' What theme does this passage most directly develop?

Q06of 10

The phrase 'Christ the tiger' and the later line 'The tiger springs in the new year' introduce which predominant tension into the poem?

Q07of 10

The speaker declares 'I have lost my sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.' In the poem's overall argument, what is the significance of this enumeration of the five senses?

Q08of 10

The figures Hakagawa, Madame de Tornquist, and Fraülein von Kulp appear briefly and then vanish. What literary technique best describes their use?

Q09of 10

The closing image describes an old man 'driven on the Trades / To a sleepy corner,' followed by 'Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.' What is the tone of this conclusion?

Q10of 10

According to the poem's first section, who reads to the old man, and what does this detail reveal about his condition?

0 / 10 answered

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