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In 1922, two of the most talented writers of their day met in Paris, and spoke no more than a few words to each other. One of them commented that the other 'wanted to talk about dukes; I wanted to talk about chambermaids.' Who were they?
   
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1102 times |
| Correct: |
511 times (32.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
591 times (37.6%) |
| Skipped: |
468 times (29.8%) |
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Which phrase was coined to identify authors and poets living in Paris after the First World War and includes Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, Waldo Peirce, and John Dos Passos?
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19735 times |
| Correct: |
13586 times (60.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
medium |
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6149 times (27.4%) |
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2721 times (12.1%) |
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The poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) was engaged for a while in 1906 to which famous American poet?
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| Answered: |
128 times |
| Correct: |
75 times (36.2%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
53 times (25.6%) |
| Skipped: |
79 times (38.2%) |
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Which writer sardonically declared in 1934 that Adolf Hitler should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
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| Answered: |
141 times |
| Correct: |
55 times (28.1%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
86 times (43.9%) |
| Skipped: |
55 times (28.1%) |
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Who edited (and wrote the introduction to)the anthology Literary Essays of Ezra Pound?
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| Answered: |
165 times |
| Correct: |
76 times (18.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
very difficult |
| Incorrect: |
89 times (21.7%) |
| Skipped: |
246 times (59.9%) |
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What state did Ezra Pound call home?
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| Answered: |
257 times |
| Correct: |
97 times (16.4%) |
| Difficulty: |
very difficult |
| Incorrect: |
160 times (27.0%) |
| Skipped: |
336 times (56.7%) |
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Ezra Pound was born in which U.S. state?
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| Answered: |
245 times |
| Correct: |
107 times (18.8%) |
| Difficulty: |
very difficult |
| Incorrect: |
138 times (24.3%) |
| Skipped: |
323 times (56.9%) |
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Which one of these is considered (rightly or wrongly) the longest complete poem in the English language?
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| Answered: |
83 times |
| Correct: |
38 times (35.2%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
45 times (41.7%) |
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25 times (23.1%) |
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Which English-language poet wrote the following words in answer to a fan letter he received?
"I suppose that my classical training has been of some use to me in furnishing good models, and making me fastidious, and telling me what to leave out. My chief object in publishing my verses was to give pleasure to a few young men here and there, and I am glad if they have given pleasure to you."
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| Answered: |
66 times |
| Correct: |
21 times (18.3%) |
| Difficulty: |
very difficult |
| Incorrect: |
45 times (39.1%) |
| Skipped: |
49 times (42.6%) |
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To which fellow poet did T.S. Eliot dedicate his poem The Waste Land?
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| Answered: |
97 times |
| Correct: |
77 times (57.9%) |
| Difficulty: |
medium |
| Incorrect: |
20 times (15.0%) |
| Skipped: |
36 times (27.1%) |
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Which renowned poet in 1936 purportedly broke his hand after hitting Ernest Hemingway on the jaw who in return knocked him down? (They had another violent argument in 1940.)
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| Answered: |
111 times |
| Correct: |
28 times (18.7%) |
| Difficulty: |
very difficult |
| Incorrect: |
83 times (55.3%) |
| Skipped: |
39 times (26.0%) |
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American poet Ezra Pound spent a great many years living where?
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| Answered: |
635 times |
| Correct: |
275 times (28.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
360 times (37.3%) |
| Skipped: |
329 times (34.1%) |
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Who wrote these delightful old lines? (Best read out aloud).
It's the very first word that poor Juliet heard
From her Romeo over the Styx;
And the Roman will tell Cleopatra in hell
When she starts the immortal old tricks;
What Paris was tellin' for good-bye to Helen
When he bundled her into the train --
Oh, it's not going to happen again, old girl,
It's not going to happen again.
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| Answered: |
55 times |
| Correct: |
18 times (21.7%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
37 times (44.6%) |
| Skipped: |
28 times (33.7%) |
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Who coined the term "The Lost Generation"?
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| Answered: |
90 times |
| Correct: |
40 times (34.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
50 times (43.1%) |
| Skipped: |
26 times (22.4%) |
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In his book A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway once described this author's talent as:
"natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time she/he understood it no more than the butterfly did and she/he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later she/he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and she/he could only remember when it had been effortless."
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| Answered: |
78 times |
| Correct: |
51 times (45.1%) |
| Difficulty: |
medium |
| Incorrect: |
27 times (23.9%) |
| Skipped: |
35 times (31.0%) |
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From The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon:
Name the quoted poet:
Supple and turbulent, a ring of men
Shall chant in orgy on a summer morn
Their boisterous devotion to the sun,
Not as a god, but as a god might be.
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| Answered: |
74 times |
| Correct: |
28 times (26.2%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
46 times (43.0%) |
| Skipped: |
33 times (30.8%) |
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From The New Oxford Book of American Verse:
Name the quoted poet: "Buffalo Bill's defunct."
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| Answered: |
485 times |
| Correct: |
214 times (27.4%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
271 times (34.7%) |
| Skipped: |
297 times (38.0%) |
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From The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon:
Name the quoted poet:
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
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| Answered: |
461 times |
| Correct: |
208 times (31.0%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
253 times (37.6%) |
| Skipped: |
211 times (31.4%) |
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From The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon:
Name the quoted poet:
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
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see if you know the answer
| Answered: |
46 times |
| Correct: |
36 times (54.5%) |
| Difficulty: |
medium |
| Incorrect: |
10 times (15.2%) |
| Skipped: |
20 times (30.3%) |
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From The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon:
Name the quoted poet:
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
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see if you know the answer
| Answered: |
33 times |
| Correct: |
23 times (41.1%) |
| Difficulty: |
medium |
| Incorrect: |
10 times (17.9%) |
| Skipped: |
23 times (41.1%) |
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From The Top 500 Poems edited by William Harmon:
Name the quoted poet:
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain--and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
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see if you know the answer
| Answered: |
21 times |
| Correct: |
13 times (39.4%) |
| Difficulty: |
difficult |
| Incorrect: |
8 times (24.2%) |
| Skipped: |
12 times (36.4%) |
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