Canto I

Midway upon the journey of our life

  I found myself within a forest dark,

  For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say

  What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,

  Which in the very thought renews the fear.

So bitter is it, death is little more;

  But of the good to treat, which there I found,

  Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

One of the major characters in this work is the author of which epic poem?

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore,

Thro’ seas where sail was never spread before,

Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,

And waves her woods above the wat’ry waste,

With prowess more than human forc’d their way

To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:

What wars they wag’d, what seas, what dangers pass’d,

What glorious empire crown’d their toils at last,

Vent’rous I sing…

Who is the author of this work?

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore,

Thro’ seas where sail was never spread before,

Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,

And waves her woods above the wat’ry waste,

With prowess more than human forc’d their way

To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:

What wars they wag’d, what seas, what dangers pass’d,

What glorious empire crown’d their toils at last,

Vent’rous I sing…

What country is this work from?

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore,

Thro’ seas where sail was never spread before,

Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,

And waves her woods above the wat’ry waste,

With prowess more than human forc’d their way

To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:

What wars they wag’d, what seas, what dangers pass’d,

What glorious empire crown’d their toils at last,

Vent’rous I sing…

In what century was this work written?

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore,

Thro’ seas where sail was never spread before,

Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,

And waves her woods above the wat’ry waste,

With prowess more than human forc’d their way

To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:

What wars they wag’d, what seas, what dangers pass’d,

What glorious empire crown’d their toils at last,

Vent’rous I sing…

This poem’s dividing structure is the same as which other epic?

Of arms I sing, and of the man, whom Fate

First drove from Troy to the Lavinian shore.

Full many an evil, through the mindful hate

Of cruel Juno, from the gods he bore,

Much tost on earth and ocean, yea, and more

In war enduring, ere he built a home,

And his loved household-deities brought o’er

To Latium, whence the Latin people come,

Whence rose the Alban sires, and walls of lofty Rome.

Which poem is this?

Of arms I sing, and of the man, whom Fate

First drove from Troy to the Lavinian shore.

Full many an evil, through the mindful hate

Of cruel Juno, from the gods he bore,

Much tost on earth and ocean, yea, and more

In war enduring, ere he built a home,

And his loved household-deities brought o’er

To Latium, whence the Latin people come,

Whence rose the Alban sires, and walls of lofty Rome.

When was this poem written?

Of arms I sing, and of the man, whom Fate

First drove from Troy to the Lavinian shore.

Full many an evil, through the mindful hate

Of cruel Juno, from the gods he bore,

Much tost on earth and ocean, yea, and more

In war enduring, ere he built a home,

And his loved household-deities brought o’er

To Latium, whence the Latin people come,

Whence rose the Alban sires, and walls of lofty Rome.

Which of the following works was not influenced by this one?

Of arms I sing, and of the man, whom Fate

First drove from Troy to the Lavinian shore.

Full many an evil, through the mindful hate

Of cruel Juno, from the gods he bore,

Much tost on earth and ocean, yea, and more

In war enduring, ere he built a home,

And his loved household-deities brought o’er

To Latium, whence the Latin people come,

Whence rose the Alban sires, and walls of lofty Rome.

Which of the following is not a major character in this work?

Le Bateau Ivre

Comme je descendais des Fleuves impassibles

Je ne me sentis plus guidé par les haleurs;

Des Peaux-Rouges criards les avaient pris pour cibles,

Les ayant cloués nus aux poteaux de couleurs.

(As I floated the impassible rivers

I no longer felt myself guided by the haulers;

The gaudy Redskins had taken them for targets,

And had nailed them naked to totem poles.)

What other work did the author of this poem write?