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 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.

  • September 29

    Question:

    To whom was Arthur Rimbaud's letter, which contained the famous words "Je est un autre" ("I is an other"), addressed?

    Answer ->

    French professor George Alphonse Fleury Izambard received Rimbaud's famous letter in 1871. A year earlier he had given Rimbaud a copy of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables .

  • September 28

    Question:

    Who are traditionally the three most renowned Japanese haiku poets?

    Answer ->

    Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa

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