Poetry Trivia Questions

In case you missed them, here are the past five Columbia Granger's World of Poetry trivia questions of the day.

  • April 18

    Question:

    What poet's epitaph reads, "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, / And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, / Await alike the inevitable hour: / The paths of glory lead but to the grave"?

    Answer ->

    Thomas Gray. The lines come from Gray's most famous poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

  • April 17

    Question:

    What poet's epitaph reads, "Heroes and Kings! your distance keep: / In peace let one poor Poet sleep; / Who never flatter'd folks like you: / Let Horace blush and Virgil too"? 

    Answer ->

    Alexander Pope. Pope, who was Catholic, is buried near his villa in Twickenham. He prefaced his epitaph, "For one who would not be buried in Westminster Abbey."

  • April 16

    Question:

    "What poet's epitaph reads, "Life is a jest; and all things show it. / I thought so once; but now I know it"? "

    Answer ->

    John Gay.

  • April 15

    Question:

    What poet's epitaph reads, "Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by"?

    Answer ->

    William Butler Yeats. The lines are the same that end his poem "Under Ben Bulben."

  • April 14

    Question:

    What poet's epitaph reads, "Here lies one whose name was writ in water"?

    Answer ->

    John Keats.

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