Dr. Prinsky

Humn. 2002: World Humanities II

Test on William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience

1. Blake's book Songs of Innocence and Experience was published in: (a) 1744 (b) 1794 (c) 1844 (d) 1894

2. An odd feature of Songs of Innocence and Experience, along with most of Blake's other books of poetry, was that it: (a) combined Blake's engraved pictures with the words (b) was printed on leather rather than paper (c) sold at department stores rather than bookshops (d) was not issued until long after his death

3. Key repeated symbols throughout the Songs of Innocence (as opposed to Songs of Experience) are all of the following except which one: (a) (holy) water (b) (gleaming, pure) white marble buildings (c) (unspoiled, natural) color (d) (pure and innocent) lamb (e) (emotional) music

“Introduction” (Songs of Innocence)

4. One of the main subjects of the poem "Introduction" (to Songs of Innocence), which begins "Piping down the valleys wild," is: (a) the need for adults to have fun (b) the connection between smoking and poetic inspiration (c) the chronological phases of literary production (d) the dangerous lure poetry may have for children

5. At the end of "Introduction" (to Songs of Innocence) writing is, through connotation of a key word, vaguely associated with: (a) money (b) corruption (c) women (d) Egypt

6. An element of Romanticism in "Introduction" (to Songs of Innocence) is its stress on: (a) religion (b) sex (c) society (d) emotion

7. An element of Romanticism in "Introduction" (to Songs of Innocence) is its contrast of all of the following except which one: (a) nature and technology (b) male and female (c) art and nature (d) adult and child

8. The pictorial design in which the poem is situated emphasizes a break (parallel to thematic content in the poem) between what two stanzas: (a) 1-2 (b) 2-3 (c) 3-4 (d) 4-5

9. The incantational effect that Blake wants to convey in "Introduction" (to Songs of Innocence) is achieved partly through which meter: (a) pyhrric (b) iambic (c) trochaic (d) spondaic

"The Lamb" (from Songs of Innocence)

10. A striking feature of "The Lamb" (from Songs of Innocence) is its: (a) Christian allusion to Jesus (b) pagan dissociation of nature and God (c) emphasis on vegetarianism (d) portrayal of sophisticated youth

11. Blake helps to convey the voice of a child in "The Lamb" by using all the following stylistic components except which one: (a) repetition (b) monosyllables (c) hesitation (d) straightforward syntax

12. Blake helps convey the mentality of the child in this poem through its structure and content, analogous to what motif that most children and parents are familiar with: (a) “Dad, can I have the keys to the car?” (b) “No!” (c) “Are we there yet?” (d) “Mom, guess what!”

13. As indicated by Prinsky’s study questions on the poem, another aspect of the poem’s structure (from elements of the opening and closing of each stanza, as well as the syllable-count of lines) is the: (a) envelope (b) intaglio (c) parabola (d) spiral (d) triangle

14. The aspect of structure referred to in the immediately preceding question helps convey the idea or notion that: (a) creation has its twists and turns (b) beings with very different exteriors have the same interior (c) the Holy Trinity dominates all creation (d) beings with very different interiors have the same exterior

"The Little Black Boy" (from Songs of Innocence)

15. In "The Little Black Boy" (from Songs of Innocence), the speaker, as is typical of many of these poems, is an: (a) adult looking back on his or her early life (b) uncorrupted child speaking somewhat naively (c) surprisingly sophisticated or precocious child (d) objective, detached third-person observer

16. In "The Little Black Boy" (from Songs of Innocence), Blake implicitly: (a) endorses the status quo of nineteenth-century society (b) portrays a rising revolutionary spirit in Blacks (c) criticizes English (and western) racism and colonialism (d) depicts the foolishness and abuse of parents

"Holy Thursday" (from Songs of Innocence)

17. In "Holy Thursday" (from Songs of Innocence), Blake uses the verse form of: (a) dimeter (b) octosyllabics (c) pentameter (d) fourteeners

18. Blake’s use of the verse form referred to in the immediately preceding question helps convey or suggest: (a) the closeness of children to adults (b) the poor children’s multitudinous trooping and massing (c) the great compassion society at large has for the children (d) the magic or supernatural quality possessed by children

19. In "Holy Thursday" (from Songs of Innocence), the "wands as white as snow" carried by the "grey headed beadles" who walk before the children (line 3) may symbolize the: (a) unreal purity of the children (b) admirable bisexuality of the elders (c) fairytale opulence of the children's lives (d) lurking harsh discipline of adult male upperclass authority

"The Chimney Sweeper" (from Songs of Innocence)

20. In "The Chimney Sweeper" (from Songs of Innocence), the child speaker innocently accepts the shocking fact that: (a) crime is rampant in the city (b) male and female youngsters work together naked (c) he has been abandoned by his father for economic gain (d) all poor children are automatically sentenced to adult prisons

21. In "The Chimney Sweeper" (from Songs of Innocence), a poignant and meaningful pun on the word "sweep," based on the child's difficulty with mature pronunciation of words (specifically consonant clusters), helps create the chimney sweeper's unwitting equation between work and: (a) freedom (b) sex (c) money (d) sorrow

"Introduction" (to Songs of Experience)

22. In "Introduction" (to Songs of Experience)--which begins "Hear the voice of the Bard!"--the Bard's poetry, in contrast to the Piper's (in "Introduction" to Songs of Innocence), is meant to: (a) stir reform (b) evoke emotion (c) curb impulsiveness (d) delight rather than instruct

23. In "Introduction" (to Songs of Experience), the Bard most strongly asserts (particularly in imagery) the power of: (a) love (b) Judaism (c) ecology (d) imagination (e) science

"Earth's Answer" (Songs of Experience)

24. In "Earth's Answer" (Songs of Experience), a contrast between Earth's response to the Bard, versus the Piper's response to the child (in the "Introduction" to Songs of Innocence), is: (a) emphasis on the power of numbers rather than language (b) praise of an urban rather than a rural setting (c) complaining denial vs. cheerful implementation (d) greater complexity of the musical instruments used in the generation of the music

25. In "Earth's Answer," the allusion to the character Urizen from Blake's combination of Christianity and his own philosophy conveys all the following criticisms by Blake except which one: (a) of overreliance on reason (b) of sexuality in love (c) of limits or restrictions (d) of father figures

"The Tyger" (Songs of Experience)

26. In "The Tyger" (Songs of Experience), Blake achieves an ominous incantational effect partly from his use of the meter based on the: (a) pyrrhus (b) iamb (c) spondee (d) trochee

27. In "The Tyger" (Songs of Experience), Blake suggests that: (a) humanity must suffer to gain knowledge and improve in moral stature (b) coequal with good in the universe is a beautiful but fearful and destructive force (c) great wisdom can be gained from the study of India's sacred lore and beliefs (d) extinction of certain animal species is virtually inevitable

28. A musical version of Blake's "The Tyger" has recently been done by the established New Age musical group: (a) Spinal Tap (b) Tangerine Dream (c) Dead Can Dance (d) Mannheim Steamroller (e) Coyote Old Man

29. A musical version of Blake's "The Tyger" has recently been done by the respected modern British composer: (a) Richard Rodney Bennett (b) Edward Elgar (c) Iain Hamilton (d) John Tavener

"The Sick Rose" (Songs of Experience)

30. A standard academic and scholarly interpretation of Blake's "The Sick Rose" (Songs of Experience), which begins "O Rose, thou art sick," is that the poem is about: (a) injustice in the legal system (b) oppression of the poor (c) sexual love (d) the Industrial Revolution's ruin of the environment

31. By implication, one thing condemned in "The Sick Rose" is: (a) secretiveness (b) money (c) disregard of the environment stemming from Adam and Eve (d) prejudice against the poor

32. As played in class, a musical setting of Blake's "The Sick Rose" was done on the work Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by the important modern British composer: (a) Vaughan Williams (b) Gustav Holst (c) William Walton (d) Benjamin Britten

"London" (Songs of Experience)

33. In "London" (Songs of Experience), basically Blake's attitude toward the city is: (a) favorable (b) unfavorable (c) neutral (d) both favorable and unfavorable

34. In "London" (Songs of Experience), Blake creates multiple meanings by repeatedly using the word mark or marks in the first quatrain rather than note or signs, drawing on the literary device of: (a) simile (b) connotation (c) metonymy (d) parale(i)psis

35. The structural function of the first stanza of Blake’s “London” — what the stanza does in comparison or contrast to the remaining stanzas — is best indicated by which one of the following words used in the stanza: (a) “I” (b) “Thames” (c) “every” (d) “weakness”

36. Blake’s “London” oscillates throughout, especially in every stanza after the first, between: (a) city and countryside (b) native and foreigner (c) optimism and pessimism (d) adult and child

37. The repetition of the word “mark” (line 3) and “marks” (line 4) is superior as word choice (Ch. 14/”Words” of RJ7) to “note” and “signs” (cf. “[I] note in every face I meet/ [Signs] of weakness, [signs] of woe”) because of the word’s connoting: (a) damage (b) noticing (c) target (d) measuring

38. The word “every” is tellingly repeated how many times in Blake’s poem “London”: (a) two (b) three (c) four (d) five (e) six

39. The figure of speech metonymy (see Ch. 17/”Figures of Speech” of RJ7) is used with reference to the first building mentioned in stanza 3 to symbolize or represent which social institution: (a) the military (b) the clergy (c) the monarchy or government (d) the universities (e) the press

40. The figure of speech metonymy (see Ch. 17/”Figures of Speech” of RJ7) is used with reference to the second building mentioned in stanza 3 to symbolize or represent which social institution: (a) the military (b) the clergy (c) the monarchy or government (d) the universities (e) the press

41. Stanza 4 is climactic by focusing on: (a) the very basis of society (b) the suffering of the young (c) the upper class (d) adult and child

"Chimney Sweeper" (Songs of Experience)

42. One main difference between the Songs of Experience "Chimney Sweeper" versus the Songs of Innocence version is that the Sweeper in the Songs of Experience version is: (a) impious (b) adult (c) explicitly critical (d) a successful refugee

43. In the Songs of Experience "Chimney Sweeper," the Sweeper’s phrasing in referring to adults “who make up a heaven of our misery” unwittingly uses, especially in the words “who make up,” the literary device of: (a) metaphor (b) hyperbole (c) pun (d) simile

44. In the Songs of Experience "Chimney Sweeper," the figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question in "who make up a heaven of our misery"(line 12) points mainly to adult: (a) hypocrisy (b) imagination (c) kindness (d) sexual perversion