Q 01/05

Which Latin phrase from an ode by Horace names the tradition 'To His Coy Mistress' belongs to?

A) Carpe diem

B) Memento mori

C) Tempus fugit

D) Et in Arcadia ego

Answer · why

A) Carpe diem

Carpe diem is more literally 'pluck the day', as one would a ripe fruit, though it is usually translated 'seize the day'.

Q 02/05

What does nobody do in the fine and private grave, as 'To His Coy Mistress' drily notes?

A) Dream

B) Dance

C) Embrace

D) Quarrel

Answer · why

C) Embrace

Embrace is the punchline of the poem's driest joke, an understatement that closes the gloomy middle section just before the speaker turns to urging ac...

Q 03/05

Which creatures will try the lady's virginity in her tomb, according to 'To His Coy Mistress'?

A) Ravens

B) Worms

C) Beetles

D) Moths

Answer · why

B) Worms

Worms give the poem its most shocking image, a deliberately grotesque jolt meant to make the lady's long-kept honour look pointless.

Q 04/05

Which winged vehicle of Time does the speaker of 'To His Coy Mistress' always hear hurrying near?

A) A galleon

B) A carriage

C) A hearse

D) A chariot

Answer · why

D) A chariot

A chariot marks the poem's turn: after twenty lines of leisurely fantasy, the mood switches from playful flattery to the fear of death.

Q 05/05

Which poet did Andrew Marvell work beside as Latin secretary and later help to spare from execution?

A) John Dryden

B) John Milton

C) Ben Jonson

D) John Bunyan

Answer · why

B) John Milton

John Milton faced punishment for his anti-monarchy writings when the king returned, and Marvell, by then an MP, helped persuade the court to spare him...