Song of Wandering Aengus Comprehension Check

what is the effect of the words "flickering out" or "glimmering?"

• they hint what is going to happen at the end of the poem
• they show how upset the troubled speaker is 
• the slow down the meter of the poem with long syllables
• they create a powerful image in the reader's mind

Read lines 7-12 in the poem. What does the word "it" refer to in line 9 of the poem?

• the berry
• the stream
• the trout
• the floor

Which line in the first stanza of the poem suggests that the speaker was alive with new ideas?

• "I went out to the hazel wood"

• "Because a fire was in my head"

• And moth like stars were flickering out

• I dropped the berry in a stream

Which statement BEST describes the impact of Yeat's use of alliteration in the line "I went to blow the fire aflame?"

• The harsh f sound mirrors the fear the speaker feels when the glimmering girl appears

• The repeated f sound mimics the sound the speaker made when blowing the fire

• The emphasized f sound imitates the rustling sound the speaker hears on the floor

• The soothing f sound reflects the confident state of the speaker's mind after he finds the girl.

In the 3rd stanza, what quest does the speaker undertake?

• to find the glimmering girl once again

• to return to the hazel wood

• to return to home and recapture his youth

• to go to the stream where he caught the silver trout

What theme does Yeats reveal through this poem?

• Love is more important than wealth

• Sharing is the best way to show affection

• Some things are worth searching for

• Be careful when you try new experiences

How does Yeats develop the theme in the poem?

• by contrasting the happiness the speaker feels in the beginning while he is fishing with the anger he feels after becoming an old man who no longer fishes

• by telling about the speaker's history of seeing things that are not real and then expressing sadness that the speaker cannot see reality.

• by describing the speaker's fateful meeting with a mysterious creature and explaining his plans to continue to search for the creature

• by explaining the steps the speaker took to catch the trout and then describing the process it took to transform into a mysterious creature.

What is the importance of the poem's structure in three stanzas?

• each stanza tells a different myth about Aengus, the God of love.

• each stanza shows the speaker fishing in a different setting

• each stanza shows a different scene from the speaker's life

• each stanza has a different meter and rhyme scheme

Which of the following is the BEST summary of the poem?

• An old man wanders in search of a beautiful girl whom he met during a fishing trip many years ago

• An old man wanders to a stream and makes a fishing rod out of a branch so he can catch a fish called the glimmering girl

• An old man wanders the land and fishes in every stream so he can catch a fish as beautiful as the first he ever caught

• An old man wanders in search of a beautiful girl who transformed from a fish he caught many years ago