Poetry Trivia Questions
In case you missed them, here are the past five Columbia Granger's World of Poetry trivia questions of the day. .
October 4
Question:
Why was Ovid banished from Rome in 8 c.e.?
Answer
Ovid wrote that it was because of "carmen et error" (a poem and a mistake). What mistake and which poem are not known, but the Ars Amatoria and a love affair with one of Augustus's female relatives are suspected.
October 3
Question:
Whom did Russian poet Anna Akhmatova translate to earn money after her own poems were censored for her being a 'bourgeois element'?
Answer
Anna Akhmatova translated the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi.
October 2
Question:
Shakespeare used 17,677 different words in his writings; what Russian poet used more?
Answer
Alexander Pushkin, who is credited with significantly augmenting the Russian language, had a lexicon of 21,197 words.
October 1
Question:
How many words is Shakespeare credited with adding to the English lexicon?
Answer
Shakespeare is credited with either using in a novel way or introducing over 1,700 words to the English language. This represents about 10% of the vocabulary used in his writings.
September 30
Question:
How many of Emily Dickinson's poems were published during her lifetime?
Answer
Of 1,789 extant poems, only 10 were published before she died in 1886.
