Focus: Early American Poetry and Poetic Forms (1607–1830)
This quiz explores poetry written in colonial and early national America. It covers Puritan poetry, neoclassical forms, elegies, meditative verse, revolutionary odes, and early romantic expressions. Featured poets include Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Phillis Wheatley, Philip Freneau, and William Cullen Bryant.
1. Who is considered the first published American poet?
A. Edward Taylor
B. Anne Bradstreet ✔️
C. Phillis Wheatley
D. Philip Freneau
2. Bradstreet’s poems often combine:
A. Gothic and satire
B. Religious faith and personal emotion ✔️
C. Epic battles and heroism
D. Scientific ideas and humor
3. Bradstreet’s poetic style is classified as:
A. Baroque
B. Romantic
C. Plain and Puritan ✔️
D. Modernist
4. What theme dominates Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House”?
A. Revolutionary patriotism
B. Romantic escapism
C. Divine providence and humility ✔️
D. Environmental loss
5. Which poet was also a minister and wrote devotional poetry?
A. Philip Freneau
B. Edward Taylor ✔️
C. William Cullen Bryant
D. Thomas Paine
6. Edward Taylor’s poetic style is known for:
A. Rational satire
B. Meditative metaphysical complexity ✔️
C. Revolutionary zeal
D. Romantic naturalism
7. Taylor’s poems often use which poetic form?
A. Sonnet
B. Heroic couplet
C. Conceit-based devotional verse ✔️
D. Blank verse
8. Phillis Wheatley is best known for writing:
A. Religious epics
B. Historical ballads
C. Neoclassical odes ✔️
D. Political satires
9. Wheatley’s poetry was revolutionary because:
A. It used dialect
B. It rejected rhyme
C. She was an enslaved woman writing in elite poetic form ✔️
D. It was anonymous
10. Wheatley often addressed:
A. Native myths
B. British royalty
C. Biblical figures and patriotic heroes ✔️
D. Gothic spirits
11. Who wrote “To His Excellency General Washington”?
A. Anne Bradstreet
B. William Bryant
C. Phillis Wheatley ✔️
D. Edward Taylor
12. What form does Wheatley use in many poems?
A. Limerick
B. Free verse
C. Heroic couplets ✔️
D. Ballad stanza
13. Which Enlightenment value shaped Wheatley’s tone?
A. Passion
B. Mystery
C. Balance and order ✔️
D. Surrealism
14. Philip Freneau is often called:
A. The Last Puritan
B. Father of American Poetry ✔️
C. Founder of the Gothic
D. Voice of the Frontier
15. Freneau’s poetry blends:
A. Horror and mysticism
B. Romanticism and satire
C. Nature, democracy, and freedom ✔️
D. Classical myth and Calvinism
16. What is a key theme in Freneau’s “The Wild Honey Suckle”?
A. Industrial labor
B. Patriotism
C. Nature’s beauty and mortality ✔️
D. Religious redemption
17. Freneau supported what political ideology in his poems?
A. Royalism
B. Deism and republicanism ✔️
C. Calvinism
D. Mysticism
18. What distinguishes early American elegy poems?
A. Humor
B. Political call
C. Reflection on loss and virtue ✔️
D. Magical realism
19. Bradstreet’s “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” is:
A. A heroic epic
B. A romantic lament
C. A domestic elegy ✔️
D. A theological satire
20. What form does Edward Taylor frequently use in his Preparatory Meditations?
A. Riddle
B. Dialogue
C. Extended metaphysical metaphor ✔️
D. Narrative ballad
21. Early Puritan poetry aimed to:
A. Entertain readers
B. Celebrate monarchy
C. Glorify God and examine the soul ✔️
D. Explore new science
22. Phillis Wheatley’s work reflects both:
A. Humor and revolution
B. Black identity and Enlightenment ideals ✔️
C. Mysticism and witchcraft
D. Satire and romanticism
23. Freneau’s poetic style shifted from neoclassical to:
A. Romanticism ✔️
B. Symbolism
C. Modernism
D. Absurdism
24. William Cullen Bryant is best known for:
A. Comic poetry
B. Nationalist satire
C. Early romantic nature verse ✔️
D. Scientific rhymes
25. Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” reflects:
A. Political struggle
B. Christian doctrine
C. Romantic meditation on death ✔️
D. Satirical wit
26. “Thanatopsis” shows influence from:
A. Gothic horror
B. Greek tragic drama
C. European romantic poets ✔️
D. Enlightenment philosophers
27. Bryant’s view of death is:
A. Terrifying
B. Hopeful and natural ✔️
C. Violent and apocalyptic
D. Denied
28. Freneau’s “On the Religion of Nature” promotes:
A. Atheism
B. Deism ✔️
C. Calvinism
D. Mysticism
29. Which poet embraced death as part of a natural cycle?
A. Wheatley
B. Freneau
C. Bryant ✔️
D. Taylor
30. What was a key difference between Taylor and Bryant?
A. Taylor used romantic nature
B. Taylor focused on Christian introspection ✔️
C. Bryant used metaphysical conceits
D. Bryant wrote Puritan hymns
31. Early American patriotic verse is often:
A. Epic in length
B. Symbolist in tone
C. Didactic and rhetorical ✔️
D. Feminist and lyrical
32. Wheatley addressed what key themes?
A. Witchcraft and war
B. Unity and divine purpose ✔️
C. National satire
D. Utopian escape
33. Bradstreet’s poetic voice was:
A. Political
B. Domestic and spiritual ✔️
C. Revolutionary
D. Satirical
34. Taylor’s poems were unpublished during his life because:
A. He feared criticism
B. He saw them as personal devotion ✔️
C. They were incomplete
D. He lost them
35. Bryant’s romanticism connects to:
A. The Enlightenment
B. American wilderness ✔️
C. Political rebellion
D. Gothic storytelling
36. Freneau’s poems often engage with:
A. Urban crime
B. Native American culture ✔️
C. European royalty
D. Mystical visions
37. Who among these poets was a Deist?
A. Edward Taylor
B. Anne Bradstreet
C. Philip Freneau ✔️
D. William Bryant
38. What makes Wheatley’s publication historically important?
A. Use of local dialect
B. Authored by an enslaved African American woman ✔️
C. Her rejection of Christianity
D. Epic poetic form
39. What poetic device dominates Bradstreet’s work?
A. Irony
B. Alliteration
C. Biblical allusion ✔️
D. Sarcasm
40. Bryant’s verse mirrors which European movement?
A. Neoclassicism
B. Romanticism ✔️
C. Symbolism
D. Surrealism
41. Puritan poetry was shaped by which worldview?
A. Catholic
B. Humanist
C. Calvinist ✔️
D. Romantic
42. Taylor’s metaphysical poems show influence from:
A. John Donne ✔️
B. Homer
C. Rousseau
D. Horace
43. Wheatley was influenced by which poet?
A. Blake
B. Pope ✔️
C. Coleridge
D. Wordsworth
44. Freneau’s “Indian Burying Ground” discusses:
A. Christian burial
B. Native spiritual belief ✔️
C. Political rebellion
D. Biblical prophecy
45. What poetic genre became more common in the national period?
A. Epic poems
B. Nature lyrics and elegies ✔️
C. Dramatic monologues
D. Political farce
46. What type of verse dominated Puritan poetry?
A. Blank verse
B. Rhymed couplets
C. Meditative lyric ✔️
D. Free verse
47. Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” explores:
A. Migration and divine guidance ✔️
B. Loss and war
C. Cities and commerce
D. Night and terror
48. Freneau often critiqued:
A. Nature
B. Clergy
C. Monarchy ✔️
D. Women
49. Wheatley’s poetic voice is often described as:
A. Satirical
B. Elevated and formal ✔️
C. Fragmented
D. Bitter
50. What unites early American poets?
A. Emphasis on violence
B. Use of nature and moral order ✔️
C. Absurdist humor
D. Mythical beings
Quiz Test-6 The History of American Literature: https://americanlit.englishlitnotes.com/early-american-fiction-writers-quiz-6/
Grammar Puzzle Solved by Naeem Sir: http://grammarpuzzlesolved.englishlitnotes.com