Poetry Trivia Questions
In case you missed them, here are the past five Columbia Granger's World of Poetry trivia questions of the day.
December 25
Question:
Who read a poem at John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration in 1961?
Answer
Robert Frost read his poem, "The Gift Outright." President Kennedy asked Frost to change "would" in the last line to "will" and Frost acquiesced, though the printed text was unchanged.
December 24
Question:
What poem form does Robert Frost's (1874-1963) "Acquainted with the Night" share with Percy Bysshe Shelley's (1792-1822) "Ode to the West Wind"?
Answer
The terza rima sonnet (aba bcb cdc ded ee). Shelley linked five terza rima sonnets together to form his poem.
December 23
Question:
Which twentieth century American poet coined a now-popular phrase regarding neighborliness?
Answer
"Robert Frost wrote "Good fences make good neighbors," in "Mending Wall." Similar proverbs have been around for many centuries in many nations however. One English precedent comes from George Herbert, who printed in Outlandish Proverbs (1640), "Love your neighbor, yet pull not downe your hedge"; another by Benjamin Franklin from Poor Richard's Almanack (1754) is "Love thy Neighbour; yet don't pull down your Hedge." "
December 22
Question:
What poet, born in California, but known as a New England poet, was named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee?
Answer
December 21
Question:
What poem furnished the title of a movie about alcoholics starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick?
Answer
Days of Wine and Roses took its title from Ernest Dowson's (1867-1900) "Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam." ("They are not long, the days of wine and roses: / Out of a misty dream.")
