Lesson 3.2.4

3.2.4 Metaphysical poet: John Donne (Selected Poems) Quiz: Pearson Edexcel English Literature, Unit 3

20 questions

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Lesson 3.2.4, Metaphysical poet: John Donne (Selected Poems): 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel English Literature (9ET0), Unit 3: Component 3: Poetry, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which Holy Sonnet begins 'Death be not proud'?

    • Holy Sonnet V
    • Holy Sonnet X
    • Holy Sonnet XIV
    • Holy Sonnet I

  2. What paradoxical statement finishes John Donne's 'Holy Sonnet X'?

    • Flesh will endure
    • Time will stop
    • Sin shall reign
    • Death shall die

  3. In John Donne's 'The Sun Rising', what order does the speaker give the sun?

    • Burn out
    • Shine brighter
    • Stand still
    • Go away

  4. In John Donne's poem 'The Flea', what does the lady do to the insect?

    • She kills it
    • She traps it
    • She releases it
    • She ignores it

  5. In John Donne's 'The Flea', what does the speaker claim the flea's body represents?

    • Mortal danger
    • Their marriage bed
    • Original sin
    • Spiritual purity

  6. Which poem by John Donne is set on the shortest day of the year?

    • The Relic
    • St Lucy's Day
    • Goodfriday, 1613
    • Twicknam Garden

  7. Donne became Dean of which London cathedral?

    • Westminster Abbey
    • St Paul's
    • Southwark Cathedral
    • Canterbury Cathedral

  8. Which Holy Sonnet begins 'Batter my heart'?

    • Holy Sonnet VII
    • Holy Sonnet X
    • Holy Sonnet XI
    • Holy Sonnet XIV

  9. In Holy Sonnet XIV ('Batter my heart'), what must happen for the speaker to be free?

    • Imprisonment by God
    • Renunciation of faith
    • Physical death
    • Eternal solitude

  10. Which John Donne poem uses a pair of compasses as a conceit for two lovers?

    • A Valediction: Of Weeping
    • The Ecstasy
    • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
    • The Canonization

  11. In 'The Anniversary', how does John Donne describe the two lovers?

    • As prisoners
    • As angels
    • As monarchs
    • As martyrs

  12. What physical expressions of grief dominate John Donne's 'Twicknam Garden'?

    • Sighs and tears
    • Chains and locks
    • Smiles and laughter
    • Blood and ashes

  13. What action does the speaker urge his mistress to do in 'To His Mistress Going to Bed'?

    • Leave the room
    • Write a letter
    • Undress for bed
    • Pray for forgiveness

  14. Which literary device, featuring an extended complex metaphor, characterises John Donne's poetry?

    • Heroic couplet
    • Metaphysical conceit
    • Epic simile
    • Blank verse

  15. Which Donne Holy Sonnet uses violent imagery of physical assault to request spiritual renewal?

    • Batter my heart
    • The Apparition
    • The Canonization
    • The Relic

  16. Which poem did John Donne write while travelling away from Christ's crucifixion in 1613?

    • The Broken Heart
    • Holy Sonnet XI
    • The Relic
    • Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward

  17. In 'The Sun Rising', what do the lovers' bed and bedroom represent?

    • A dark prison
    • The whole world
    • A sacred temple
    • A forgotten wasteland

  18. What apocalyptic event is depicted in Holy Sonnet VII ('At the round earth's imagined corners')?

    • Fall of Man
    • The Great Flood
    • The Crucifixion
    • The Last Judgement

  19. What style of language does John Donne combine with intellectual argument in his poetry?

    • Silent contemplation
    • High courtly diction
    • Colloquial speech
    • Strict archaic prose

  20. In which historical eras did the life of John Donne (1572–1631) take place?

    • Elizabethan and Jacobean
    • Victorian and Edwardian
    • Medieval and Tudor
    • Restoration and Augustan

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