"The Children's Hour" Quiz

What is the setting of the poem?

• A Castle in the Morning

• A Castle at Night

• A Study at Sunset

• A Bedroom at Dawn

Select all devices used in the poem.

• Allusion

• Imagery

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Situational Irony

Which of the following most accurately explains the meaning of "Grave" in line 11?

• Serious

• Ghostly

• Sad

• Angry

What is the manner of the relationship between the speaker and the three little girls?

• The speaker resents his daughters for always interrupting him and his work.

• The speaker adores his daughters and their affectionate, though mischievous visits.

• The speaker loves the children but wishes they would be a little less energetic.

• The speaker is glad their visitation is limited to an hour because he wouldn't get so much done with them playing.

Which of the following quotes best demonstrates the relationship between the speaker and the three little girls?

• "A whisper, and then a silence: / Yet I know by their merry eyes / They are plotting and planning together / To take me by surprise." (13-16)

• "If I try to escape, they surround me; / They seem to be everywhere." (23-24)

• "Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, / Because you have scaled the wall, / Such an old mustache as I am / Is not a match for you at all!" (29-32)

• "I have you fast in my fortress, / And will not let you depart, / But put you down into the dungeon / In the round-tower of my heart." (33-36)

To what does the speaker compare his study?

• The speaker compares his study to a fortified castle, which the girls 'invade.'

• The speaker compares his study to a miserable dungeon, in which he is imprisoned doing work.

• The speaker compares his study to a place of silence and solitude, where he can have a moment of peace.

• The speaker compares his study to a tower, from which the girls rescue him.

How does the speaker develop the castle comparison later in the poem?

• The speaker portrays himself as the girls' enemy and victim in their pretend game of raiding the castle.

• The speaker expands this castle imagery to beyond his study, symbolic of the girls' invasion into all aspects of his home and life.

• the speaker expands this castle imagery until it includes himself, wherein his heart is a round-tower dungeon where he will always keep his love for his daughters.

• The speaker expands this castle imagery until it includes himself as parts of the castle, implying that he wants to remain guarded against his daughters' affection.