Rhythm and Rhyme: The Poetry Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
2 min
Rhythm and Rhyme: The Poetry Quiz
Image: Nathan Benn/Corbis via Getty Images

About This Quiz

Poetry may seem simple, but if you take a closer look, you'll see the attention to form, detail, meter and rhyme that make classic poems so unforgettable. Take our quiz to see how much you know about the art and practice of poetry.
What type of poem is Shakespeare best known for?
epic
sonnet
limerick
How many lines does a sonnet have?
10
12
14
What do you call a poem where the first letter of each line spells a word or phrase when read vertically?
acrostic
aubade
anagram

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What does every didactic poem have?
12 lines
no rhyming
a moral
What type of poetry was Virgil known for?
Georgic
Gothic
Gnomic
How many lines are in a haiku?
one
three
five

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What country did landays originate in?
Greece
Afghanistan
China
How many lines are in a limerick?
three
four
five
How many lines make up a quatrain?
two
three
four

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Where did the tanka style of poetry originate?
Japan
Vietnam
Cambodia
What of these rhyming schemes is known as common measure?
ABBA
ABAB
AAAA
What country produced the world's longest poem?
China
Russia
India

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When was the "Epic of Gilgamesh" first recorded?
12th century B.C.E.
3rd century C.E.
12th century C.E.
How old is the world's oldest known love poem?
6000 years
4000 years
2000 years
What year was magnetic poetry invented?
1973
1983
1993

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What month is celebrated as National Poetry Month in the U.S.?
February
April
July
What year was the first poet laureate of the United States selected?
1985
1995
2005
Who appoints the poet laureate of the United States?
president
first lady
Librarian of Congress

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True or false: The poet laureate position is unpaid.
true
false
What style of poetry is Allen Ginsberg best known for?
epic
Beat
didactic
What style of poetry originated in Switzerland around 1916?
spondee
aubade
Dada

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True or false: There is a style of poetry called flarf.
true
false
What is the most common poetic meter called?
iamb
triamb
quadramb
How many syllables are in a foot?
two
six
12

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How many feet are in a pentameter?
five
10
12
How many syllables are in Poulter's measure?
13
26
51
What do you call a foot in which both syllables are accented?
sponge
spondee
pyrrhic

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What is the opposite of spondee?
spondoo
aubade
pyrrhic
What are aubade style poems about?
money
dawn
death
What style of poem has ABCD rhyming quatrains and alternating three-stress and four-stress lines?
ballad
epic
dada

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