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Storgy

Quiz — Storgy

ON A PORTRAIT OF DANTE BY GIOTTO.

by James Russell Lowell.

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

Q01of 10

What physical setting or action initiates the poem's central meditation?

Q02of 10

In the first stanza, the image of Francesca 'subduing and mounting' Dante's 'wild-horse knee' most likely alludes to which episode in Dante's work?

Q03of 10

The phrase 'eye remote, that inly sees' in the second stanza is best understood as an example of which poetic technique?

Q04of 10

What does the 'gift-blossom' and 'branch of palm from Holy Land' suggest about the youthful Dante depicted in the portrait?

Q05of 10

In stanza three, the simile of 'the soft, gray herald-shadow ere the eclipse / Notches the perfect disk with gloom' functions primarily to convey which idea?

Q06of 10

Which word best characterizes the overall tone Lowell adopts toward Dante throughout the poem?

Q07of 10

The final stanza broadens the poem's argument beyond Dante alone. What universal claim does Lowell make in lines beginning 'Ah! he who follows fearlessly'?

Q08of 10

The phrase 'immitigable eye' in the opening stanza most precisely conveys which quality Lowell attributes to Dante?

Q09of 10

The allusion to 'Hesperides' in stanza two serves chiefly to characterize Beatrice's spirit as dwelling in a place that is:

Q10of 10

According to the poem's third and fourth stanzas, what is presented as the ultimate cause of a true poet's exile—harder even than Florence's city walls?

0 / 10 answered

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