The Quarry

Question 1

Form?

Answer 1

ballad, quatrains, regular ABAB rhymes, tetrameter

Question 2

The quatrains, regular ABAB rhymes, four beats and _____ create a sense of drumming

Answer 2

tetrameter

Question 3

what does the traditional ballad form invoke?

Answer 3

an atmosphere of impending war

Question 4

When was the Quarry written?

Answer 4

1932

Question 5

“They have passed the farmyard already, dear//

Answer 5

And now they are running”

Question 6

what was the stimulus for this poem?

Answer 6

a painting of the Agony in the Garden, where the soldiers in t he background appear harmless, and ‘it is only because one has read the Gospel story, that one knows that, in fact, they are coming to arrest Jesus’.

Question 7

what is it about?

Answer 7

the universality of war, pervasive betrayal

Question 8

How is it structure loosely?

Answer 8

dialogue between a couple which adopts a question and answer format

Question 9

the poem uses ______ language to lull the evident victim of the soldiers, and the reader, into a false sense of security

Answer 9

tender

Question 10

stereotypical figures in the poem which show that fascism can seduce everyone

Answer 10

the doctor, the parson, the farmer

Question 11

The four beats helps to….

Answer 11

emulate the sound of drums and the marching of the soldiers developing tension.

Question 12

quatrain rhyming pattern ABAB reflects the…

Answer 12

drumming of the soldiers

Question 13

the tetrameter alternates between…

Answer 13

iambs and anapaests

Question 14

the rhythmic devices which emphasise the sound of the soldiers marching and drumming….

Answer 14

bring the silent listener closer to the action making us fear the couple’s safety even more

Question 15

degree of regularity with….

Answer 15

the syllable count for every stanza

Question 16

erratic number of syllables on every line, for example…

Answer 16

stanza one has 10,9,8 and 5.

Question 17

repeated _______ ‘drumming’ imitates the sound of the drums bringing the reader closer to the action.

Answer 17

alliterative

Question 18

‘O’

Answer 18

archaic, helps produce a vague time period

Question 19

‘thrills’

Answer 19

creates stimulation and fear like a military band

Question 20

the _____ of ‘scarlet soldiers’ creates a ______ effect

Answer 20

sibilance, whispering

Question 21

What is the tone and how does it shift?

Answer 21

expectant, singsong until the penultimate stanza which is one of shock and betrayal before climaxing with a matter-of-fact type tone.

Question 22

Richard Davenport-Hines indicates a connection between this poem and the Renaissance painter _____________’s work, The Agony in the Garden (c. 1465)

Answer 22

Giovanni Bellini