Category: Brain Teasers

Trivia: Which poem describes the brokenness and loss caused by World War I?

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
The Tyger by William Blake
To a Mouse by Robert Burns
Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

Correct Answer: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

So why is this answer correct? : T.S. Eliot drew inspiration from World War I in many of his pieces, such as “The Hollow Man” and “The Waste Land.” Published in 1922, this poem is considered one of the most important poems of the 20th century, touching on emotions that people around the world were feeling in the years after the war. The first stanza morosely begins with “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

Trivia: “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as” what?

A swan
A tree
The sea
The snow

Correct Answer: A tree

So why is this answer correct? : Joyce Kilmer’s claim to fame is his short poem, “Trees,” which was published in his 1914 collection “Trees and Other Poems.” The poem is essentially a tribute to the magnificence of nature, with Kilmer marveling at the life of a tree, weathering season after season. His final stanza is well-remembered, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree,” hinting that he feels inferior to nature.

Trivia: From Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” “If you can dream” and what?

And hold them in your heart
And hide them away
And dance in the flowers
And not make dreams your master

Correct Answer: And not make dreams your master

So why is this answer correct? : English writer Rudyard Kipling was a short story writer, novelist, and poet. Much of his work was inspired by his birthplace of Mumbai, India, including “The Jungle Book,” and his most famous poem, “If.” In the poem, the speaker is telling his son about what it takes to become a man. The second stanza begins with, “If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,” as part of his suggestions to his son.

Trivia: Emily Dickinson uses a metaphor in “Hope Is the Thing With” what?

Wings
Feathers
Talons
Eyes

Correct Answer: Feathers

So why is this answer correct? : Regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry, Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems, but her work wouldn’t become famous until after her passing in 1886. She titled less than 10 of her poems, so many today are titled by their first line or by a number given by posthumous editors. This poem describes hope as a bird, resting in the soul, that never wavers even in the face of hardships.

Trivia: What poem ends with “I am the captain of my soul”?

Ode to a Nightingale
Song of Myself
Fire and Ice
Invictus

Correct Answer: Invictus

So why is this answer correct? : William Ernest Henley was a writer and poet in 19th century Victorian England. He wrote his best-known poem, “Invictus,” Latin for “invincible,” in 1875 after he had his leg amputated due to tuberculosis complications. Only 16 at the time of the surgery, Henley was inspired during his recovery to write the verses that would become one of the most inspirational poems of the century.

Trivia: Which Maya Angelou poem was a metaphor for the oppressed?

Caged Bird
Phenomenal Woman
Alone
When I Think About Myself

Correct Answer: Caged Bird

So why is this answer correct? : Civil rights activist Maya Angelou’s 1983 poem describes very different experiences for two birds, one caged and one uncaged. The uncaged bird is free to do as it wants in nature, while the caged bird is trapped and suffering. To cope with its captivity, the caged bird sings, longing for its freedom. Angelou uses this metaphor to highlight how different things are for oppressed populations, and that they are emotionally resilient despite, or because of, their suffering.

Trivia: Who used “a barren field frozen with snow” as a metaphor for dying dreams?

Shel Silverstein
Langston Hughes
Maya Angelou
Claude McKay

Correct Answer: Langston Hughes

So why is this answer correct? : One of the leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes was a poet, activist, and innovator of jazz poetry. In the first stance of his poem, “Dreams” (1923), Hughes encourages the reader to hold onto their dreams because “if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly.” He later goes on to compare life without dreams to a “barren field frozen with snow.”

Trivia: In “Daffodils,” poet William Wordsworth “wandered lonely” as a what?

Cloud
Leaf
Butterfly
Worm

Correct Answer: Cloud

So why is this answer correct? : “Daffodils,” William Wordsworth’s most popular poem, was inspired by a walk he took with his sister, Dorothy, in 1802. The duo happened upon a field of daffodils while strolling through England’s picturesque Lake District, and the poem took shape two years later. The opening line of the poem is, “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills.”

Trivia: Who wrote the famous refrain “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”?

F. Scott Fitzgerald
E.E. Cummings
Dylan Thomas
Sylvia Plath

Correct Answer: Dylan Thomas

So why is this answer correct? : Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote his best-known poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” in 1947 while visiting Florence with his family. The line “rage, rage against the dying of the light” is a refrain, repeated throughout the poem. It’s speculated that Thomas wrote the poem about his ailing father. The theme of the poem focuses on the fragility of life and encourages humanity to fight against illness and old age.

Trivia: What literary character said, “Not all those who wander are lost”?

Daisy Buchanan
Scarlett O’Hara
Bilbo Baggins
Hermione Granger

Correct Answer: Bilbo Baggins

So why is this answer correct? : “The Riddle of Strider” is a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien from his 1954 novel, “The Lord of the Rings.” The first stanza reads, “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” This poem is found in a letter given to Frodo by Gandalf but is read by Bilbo Baggins at the Council of Elrond. The first line is a nod to Shakespeare’s 1596 play “The Merchant of Venice,” which includes the line “All that glitters is not gold.”