Collection of important MCQs on W B Yeats
#1. On the marble table-top.” This line is taken from which of the following poem of Yeats?
(A) Byzantium
(B) Blood and the Moon
(C) Coole Park
(D) Vacillation
Question’s Answer: Vacillation

#2. The symbols used by W.B. Yeats are difficult to understand because:
(A) They are too intricate
(B) They are derived from Scottish legends
(C) They are derived from obscure Irish mythology
(D) They are derived from unfamous sources
Question’s Answer: They are derived from obscure Irish mythology
#3. “My fiftieth year had come and gone,
I sat a solitary man,
In a crowded London shop,
An open book and empty cup”
W.B. Yeats was a ______ .
(A) Anglo-Scotch poet
(B) Anglo-Indian poet
(C) Anglo-Roman poet
(D) Anglo-Irish poet
Question’s Answer: Anglo-Irish poet
#4. What is Yeats’s The Land of Heart’s Desire?
(A) A drama in One Act
(B) A drama in three Acts
(C) A long narrative poem
(D) A prose treatise
Question’s Answer: A drama in One Act
#5. What is Yeats’s Ideas of Good and Evil?
(A) A Collection of Lyrics
(B) A Collection of essays
(C) A Collection of tales
(D) A Collection of Odes
Question’s Answer: A Collection of essays

#6. Which is a poem not created and written by Yeats?
(A) The Statues
(B) A Bronze Head
(C) The Untilled Field
(D) Vacillation
Question’s Answer: The Untilled Field
#7. “Wisdom is the property of the dead,
A something incomparable with life;
and power Like everything that has the stain of blood,
A property of the living.”
This line is taken from which of the following poem of Yeats?
(A) The Three Bushes
(B) Lapis Lazuli
(C) The Gyres
(D) A Prayer for Old Age
Question’s Answer: A Prayer for Old Age
#8. Countess Cathleen is a drama written by Yeats. In what linguistic form is it written?
(A) In Rhyming Verse
(B) In prose
(C) In prose-poetry
(D) In Free Verse
Question’s Answer: In prose
#9. Is Yeats primarily a-
(A) Satirist
(B) Imagist
(C) Symbolist
(D) Idealist
Question’s Answer: Symbolist
#10. “… for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.”
This line is taken from which of the following poem?
(A) Byzantium
(B) Coole Park
(C) The Secret Rose
(D) The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Question’s Answer: The Lake Isle of Innisfree
#11. Yeats’s poem When You Are Old is addressed to:
(A) His wife
(B) His sister
(C) Robert Bridges
(D) His beloved Maud Gonne
Question’s Answer: His beloved Maud Gonne
#12. What is the idea/theme of Sailing to Byzantium?
(A) Mortality of man
(B) Land of ideal vision
(C) A Utopian vision
(D) Eternity of life
Question’s Answer: Eternity of life
#13. What is Yeats’s Reveries Over Childhood and Youth?
(A) An autobiographical treatise
(B) A satirical treatise
(C) A reflective treatise
(D) A prose-work
Question’s Answer: An autobiographical treatise
#14. Which is a poem written by Yeats?
(A) Esther Waters
(B) The Day’s Work
(C) Palicio
(D) The Second Coming
Question’s Answer: The Second Coming
#15. W.B. Yeats has written a poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Where is Innisfree situated?
(A) It is only an imaginary Island
(B) It is situated near the eastern coast of England
(C) It is situated in Lough Gill
(D) It is situated near the western coast of England
Question’s Answer: It is situated in Lough Gill
#16. Yeats’s poem Coole Park is related with the poet’s association with which of the following?
(A) The poet’s old-age memories
(B) Irish social life
(C) Lady Gregory
(D) The poet’s zest for life
Question’s Answer: Lady Gregory
#17. One of the most important symbols in Yeats’ poems is:
(A) Sky symbol
(B) Child symbol
(C) Bird’s symbol
(D) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Bird’s symbol
#18. Arthur Simons dedicated his book The Symbolist Movement in Literature to:
(A) T.S Eliot
(B) Ezra Pound
(C) W.B. Yeats
(D) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: W.B. Yeats
#19. In Yeats’ poems, “Rose” symbolizes:
(A) Creativity
(B) Apparent Beauty
(C) Intellectual Beauty
(D) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Intellectual Beauty
#20. Which is not the work of Yeats?
(A) The Second Coming
(B) The Waste Land
(C) Among School Children
(D) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: The Waste Land
#21. In the poem “Among School Children” by Yeats, ‘Dance’ is the symbol of:
(a) Beauty
(b) Calm
(c) Unity
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Unity
#22. In Yeats’ Poem “Sailing To Byzantium”, “Byzantium” is the symbol of:
(a) Perfect world
(b) Unity
(c) Beauty
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Perfect world
#23. W.B. Yeats’ parents were:
(a) Painters
(b) Doctors
(c) Engineers
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Painters
#24. Which following is not the contemporary of W.B. Yeats?
(a) Chaucer
(b) T.S. Eliot
(c) Ezra Pound
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Chaucer
#25. Yeats passed away in:
(a) Germany
(b) America
(c) France
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: France
#26. Who was Lady Gregory?
(a) Collaborator of Yeats
(b) Yeats’ Sister
(c) Yeats’ Mother
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Collaborator of Yeats
#27. One of the earlier poems of W.B. Yeats is:
(a) The Mask
(b) In the Serene Woods
(c) The Tower
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: In the Serene Woods
#28. W.B. Yeats was influenced by:
(a) T.S. Eliot
(b) W.H. Auden
(c) Ezra Pound
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Ezra Pound
#29. Yeats got married when he was:
(a) Fifty-one
(b) Fifty-three
(c) Fifty-two
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Fifty-two
#30. Yeats was a member of the Irish:
(a) Senate
(b) Assembly
(c) Parliament
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Senate
#31. Yeats passed away at the School of Art in:
(a) Dublin
(b) France
(c) America
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Dublin
#32. In “Among School Children,” while thinking of Maud Gonne being old, Yeats started thinking of his:
(a) Old Age
(b) Childhood
(c) Youth
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Youth
#33. Aristotle was the tutor of:
(a) Alexander the Great
(b) Socrates
(c) Plato
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Alexander the Great
#34. Yeats’ poetic career spans the period of:
(a) Seventy years
(b) Sixty years
(c) Over fifty years
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Over fifty years
#35. Which school did Yeats visit in 1926?
(a) Stafford School
(b) Beacon House
(c) Waterford Convent
(d) Inn School
Question’s Answer: Waterford Convent
#36. With whom did Yeats compare Maud Gonne in his poem “Among School Children”?
(a) Cleopatra
(b) Helen
(c) Mona Liza
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Helen
#37. The “Second Phase” of Yeats poetry is from:
(a) 1901 to 1914
(b) 1903 to 1913
(c) 1902 to 1912
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: 1903 to 1913
#38. The “Third Phase” of Yeats poetry is from:
(a) 1915 to 1910
(b) 1914 to the mid of 1928
(c) 1915 to 1920
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: 1914 to the mid of 1928
#39. The girl students in the classrooms reminded Yeats of:
(a) Lady Gregory
(b) Anne
(c) Maud Gonne
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Maud Gonne
#40. W.B. Yeats passed away in:
(a) 1950
(b) 1930
(c) 1940
(d) 1939
Question’s Answer: 1939
#41. The “Fourth Phase” of Yeats poetry is from:
(a) 1929 to 1940
(b) The mid of 1928 to 1939
(c) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: The mid of 1928 to 1939
#42. When was the last work of “Collected Plays” by Yeats published?
(a) 1951
(b) 1954
(c) 1953
(d) 1952
Question’s Answer: 1952
#43. W.B. Yeats was born in:
(a) 1880
(b) 1870
(c) 1875
(d) 1865
Question’s Answer: 1865
#44. Who is the author of “The Second Coming”?
(a) E. Spencer
(b) W.B. Yeats
(c) T.S. Eliot
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: W.B. Yeats
#45. W.B. Yeats was a:
(a) Dramatist
(b) Poet and Dramatist
(c) Novelist
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Poet and Dramatist
#46. Yeats’ poem “A Vision” is:
(a) Political
(b) Mystic
(c) Romantic
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Mystic
#47. What is the theme of Yeats’ Poem “Sailing To Byzantium”?
(a) Mysticism
(b) Love
(c) Old Age
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Old Age
#48. The subject of Yeats’ poem “September 1913” is:
(a) Romance
(b) Mythology
(c) Politics
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Politics
#49. W.B. Yeats belonged to the:
(a) 20th Century
(b) 19th Century
(c) 18th Century
(d) 17th Century
Question’s Answer: 20th Century
#50. The last poems of Yeats are steeped in:
(a) Politics
(b) Mysticism
(c) Mythology
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Mysticism
#51. Yeats’ Poem, “A Prayer for my Daughter” is a:
(a) Political
(b) Personal Poem
(c) Mystic
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Personal Poem
#52. Mythology which Yeats used in his early poems was derived from:
(a) Roman Mythology
(b) Greek Mythology
(c) Irish Heroic Legends
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Irish Heroic Legends
#53. Yeats’ poem “Easter 1916” deals with the:
(a) Beauty of Maud Gonne
(b) Contemporary history of Ireland
(c) Rise and fall of civilization
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Contemporary history of Ireland
#54. The “Nobel Prize for Literature” was given to Yeats in:
(a) 1926
(b) 1924
(c) 1925
(d) 1923
Question’s Answer: 1923
#55. Aristotle and Plato were:
(a) Philosophers
(b) Writers
(c) Doctors
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Philosophers
#56. The main theme of Yeats’ poem “Among School Children” is:
(a) Love
(b) Old age
(c) Relationship of matter and spirit
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Relationship of matter and spirit
#57. How many stanzas are there in the poem “Among School Children”?
(a) Five stanzas
(b) Nine stanzas
(c) Eight stanzas
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Eight stanzas
#58. In the last stanza of ‘Among School Children’ Yeats compared life to:
(a) Bird
(b) Heaven
(c) A Chestnut Tree
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: A Chestnut Tree
#59. Plato explained the world as the:
(a) Hell
(b) Shadow of God’s ideas
(c) Heaven
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Shadow of God’s ideas
#60. “Sailing To Byzantium” was proudly written by:
(a) T.S. Eliot
(b) W.B. Yeats
(c) John Keats
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: W.B. Yeats
#61. “Pure Poetry” is:
(a) Romantic Poetry
(b) Free from the exterior decoration
(c) Sad Poetry
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Free from the exterior decoration
#62. To appreciate Yeats’ poems one has to be fully conversant with the:
(a) Irish Background
(b) Background
(c) American Background
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Irish Background
#63. In the last lines of “Among School Children,” Yeats talked about the need for a proper fusion:
(a) Between Body and Soul
(b) Between outer and inner beauty
(c) Between labour and spontaneity
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Between labour and spontaneity
#64. The first eight lines of “The Second Coming” sum up the situation of the world after:
(a) World War II
(b) World War I
(c) (a) & (b)
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: World War I
#65. How many women, who influenced Yeats’ poems, came in his life?
(a) One
(b) Five
(c) Four
(d) Two
Question’s Answer: Two
#66. “Istanbul” was the capital of:
(a) Greece
(b) Roman Empire
(c) France
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Roman Empire
#67. How many stanzas are there in ‘Sailing to Byzantium’?
(a) Four stanzas
(b) Three stanzas
(c) Five stanzas
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Four stanzas
#68. Yeats’ beloved name was:
(a) Mary
(b) Maud Gonne
(c) Elizabeth
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Maud Gonne
#69. Yeats started writing “Pure Poetry” under the influence of:
(a) The Greek Symbolists
(b) The Roman Symbolists
(c) The French Symbolist and English Aesthetes
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: The French Symbolist and English Aesthetes
#70. “Byzantium” is the old name of:
(a) Rome
(b) Greece
(c) Istanbul
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Istanbul
#71. Yeats’ poetry can be divided into:
(a) Four phases
(b) Three phases
(c) Two phases
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Four phases
#72. The “First Phase” of Yeats’ poetry is from:
(a) 1886 to 1902
(b) 1885 to 1901
(c) 1885 to 1903
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: 1885 to 1903
#73. How many stanzas are there in “The Second Coming”?
(a) Three stanzas
(b) Two stanzas
(c) Four stanzas
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Two stanzas
#74. Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming” was written in:
(a) 1924
(b) 1922
(c) 1923
(d) 1921
Question’s Answer: 1921
#75. Yeats married in:
(a) 1920
(b) 1918
(c) 1919
(d) 1917
Question’s Answer: 1917
#76. “Responsibilities” by Yeats is a volume of:
(a) Novels
(b) Poems
(c) Plays
(d) None of A, B, and C
Question’s Answer: Poems
#77. “The Wind Among the Reeds” was published in which year?
(a) 1899
(b) 1890
(c) 1892
(d) 1900
Question’s Answer: 1899
W B Yeats basic info
Full Name | William Butler Yeats |
Born | June 13, 1865 |
Died | January 28, 1939 |
Nationality | Irish |
Occupation | Poet, Playwright |
Literary Period | Modernism, Irish Literary Revival |
Famous Works | “The Tower”, “The Wild Swans at Coole”, “Easter 1916”, “The Second Coming”, “Sailing to Byzantium” |
Notable Themes | Irish mythology and folklore, politics, love, the search for meaning |
Literary Style | Symbolism, mysticism, lyricism, use of Irish mythology and folklore |
Influences | Celtic mythology, Romanticism, Symbolism |
W.B. Yeats books names
The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems | 1889 |
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics | 1892 |
The Celtic Twilight | 1893 |
Poems | 1895 |
The Wind Among the Reeds | 1899 |
Cathleen ni Houlihan (play, with Lady Gregory) | 1902 |
In the Seven Woods | 1903 |
The Green Helmet and Other Poems | 1910 |
Responsibilities | 1914 |
The Wild Swans at Coole | 1917 |
The Tower | 1928 |
The Winding Stair and Other Poems | 1933 |
New Poems | 1938 |
Last Poems | 1940 |
Summary of some famous poems of W. B. Yeats
- summary – The Lake Isle of Innisfree
- Summary of “The Second Coming” by W. B. Yeats
- Summary of “Easter 1916” by W. B. Yeats
- Summary of A Prayer for My Daughter
- Summary of Sailing to Byzantium
- Summary of Leda and the Swan
- Summary of The Wild Swans at Coole
- Summary of The Song of Wandering Aengus
- Summary of Summary of The Stolen Child
- Summary of An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
- Summary of The Tower by W. B. Yeats
- Summary of The Circus Animals’ Desertion
- Summary of The Fisherman
- Summary of Among School Children
- Summary of No Second Troy
- Summary of The Ballad of Father Gilligan
- To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing
- The Dancer’s Image
- A Coat
- The Man and the Echo
- The Rose Tree
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