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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "There Will Come Soft Rains".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the best summary of how the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" compares to the short story of the same name?
(a) The poem focuses more on the role of technology in humankind's demise.
(b) The poem is a darker version of the same ideas contained in the short story.
(c) The poem is more hopeful about humankind's future.
(d) The poem focuses more on the survival of a world without humans.

2. What is the house compared to as it burns to the ground?
(a) A cigar.
(b) A bomb.
(c) A skeleton.
(d) A bonfire.

3. What is strange about how the nursery reacts to the fire?
(a) The voice in the nursery walls begins singing an old children's song.
(b) The animal images seem to be aware of the fire.
(c) The nursery is the only room that does not turn on its sprinklers.
(d) The nursery deliberately opens its windows during the fire.

4. What historical event is alluded to with the date given in the beginning of the story?
(a) The beginning of the Cold War.
(b) The bombing of Hiroshima.
(c) The beginning of World War II.
(d) The first testing of a nuclear bomb.

5. "Mr. Featherstone" is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Paradox.
(b) Kenning.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Epithet.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?

2. What allusion is present in the weather box's announcement of the rain?

3. What is the image of the west wall meant to allude to?

4. What is the reaction of nature to the end of human existence in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

5. The line "And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn," contains an example of which technique?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 377 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample