Categories
2024 – Spring

Literary Crossword Puzzle

If you prefer filling out this crossword online, here’s the link: Literary Nerd’s Crossword Puzzle – Crossword Labs (but scroll down here for the answers)

Across

  • 3. Nonfiction narrative writing based on the author’s personal memories.
  • 4. Last name of that famous American female author who wrote a famous novel about four sisters.
  • 7. Two successive rhyming lines.
  • 10. Pentameter of an unstressed stressed foot.
  • 12. The ___ Jar, novel by Sylvia Plath.
  • 15. Percy Bysshe Shelley belonged to this literary and artistic movement.
  • 16. Frederick ____ , African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, statesman and author of one of the most famous slave narratives.
  • 18. Last name of the poet who wrote “The Tyger”, “The Sick Rose” and “A Poison Tree”.
  • 19. John Milton lived during this century.
  • 21. Last name of the winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature and author of The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying and “A Rose for Emily”.
  • 23. A closed form consisting of fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter.
  • 24. Last name of female author who wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, And Still I Rise, and Mother.
  • 25. Literary genre linked to fear and horror.
  • 27. This figure of speech is a deliberate exaggeration that adds emphasis, urgency, or excitement to a statement.
  • 28. First name of famous detective whose partner is Dr. Watson.

Down

  • 1. Figure of speech that places opposite things or ideas next to one another in order to draw out their contrast.
  • 2. Jane Austen’s last complete novel.
  • 5. A ____ in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, title inspired by a Langston Hughes poem.
  • 6. This figure of speech assigns human attributes to nonhuman things.
  • 8. Capote’s first name, author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Cold Blood.
  • 9. This novel’s titular character often gets mistaken as the monster’s name. Name that novel/character.
  • 11. This Shakespearean character has the same name as that hot-headed talking parrot in Walt Disney’s Aladdin.
  • 13. Last name of Victorian Irish author of A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest.
  • 14. Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel about a dysfunctional family of formerly enslaved people whose Cincinnati home is haunted by a malevolent spirit.
  • 16. Probably the most famous short story about vampires you have ever heard of.
  • 17. What colour is the hat worn by Curious George’s owner?
  • 20. Last name of the author who wrote The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast.
  • 22. Musical style originated within African-American communities in the late 19th century; famous composition of this kind of music: “The Entertainer”.
  • 26. A ___ Named Desire, play by Tennessee Williams.

*Scroll down for the answers*

Answers:

  1. Memoir
  2. Romanticism
  3. Blake
  4. Truman
  5. Raisin
  6. Antithesis
  7. Sherlock
  8. Gothic
  9. Couplet
  10. Persuasion
  11. Ragtime
  12. Sonnet
  13. Douglass
  14. Hyperbole
  15. Iago
  16. Seventeenth
  17. Hemingway
  18. Faulkner
  19. Iambic
  20. Beloved
  21. “Dracula”
  22. Frankenstein
  23. Personification
  24. Alcott
  25. Margaret
  26. Yellow
  27. Streetcar
  28. Wilde
  29. Angelou
  30. Bell
Categories
2024 – Spring

Which Shakespeare Character Are You? – Quizzes

We have prepared three quizzes for you to find out which badass female Shakespeare character, which evil Shakespearean character and which drama-llama Shakespeare character you are. Enjoy!

Which badass female Shakespeare character are you?

What is your worst flaw?

A. What are you talking about, I’m flawless!

B. I’m too short.

C. I’m too faithful and dedicated to my husband who has trust issues with me.

D. I look like my brother.

Are you in love?

A. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

B. Yes, with my boyfriend but my father doesn’t approve of him.

C. Yes, with my husband but we’re having issues right now.

D. Yes, but he’s in love with someone else (sighs).

Do you believe in true love?

A. Honestly, what is your deal with love?!

B. Of course I do and I’d do anything to protect it!

C. I thought I did but my husband’s strange behaviour is making me doubt the relationship.

D. I truly do but things are a bit complicated with my crush right now…

Do you have any impressive skills?

A. I can beat your ass at a battle of wits.

B. I have all the men fall in love with me without me even trying.

C. My commitment to others is as firm as a rock.

D. I can pretend to be a man.  

What is your guilty pleasure?

A. Coming up with smart insults.

B. Provoking my father.

C. I’m afraid I have none.

D. Pretending to be a man.

 

If you got mostly A. you are Beatrice from Much Ado about Nothing! Beatrice is Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. Unlike her cousin and most women of their time, she is feisty, cynical, witty and sharp. However, Beatrice also has a softer and more vulnerable side. During the play she is tricked into falling in love with Benedick, a soldier with whom she has a “merry war”, basically an exchange of witty insults. She is a strong character for she refuses to marry because she has not discovered the perfect, equal partner and because she is unwilling to eschew her liberty and submit to the will of a controlling husband. When Hero has been humiliated and accused of violating her chastity, Beatrice explodes with fury at Claudio for mistreating her cousin. In her frustration and rage about Hero’s mistreatment, Beatrice rebels against the unequal status of women in Renaissance society. She has often been described as a protofeminist character.

If you got mostly B. you are Hermia from A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Hermia is a strong-willed and brave young woman who at the start of the play stands up to her father to defend her love for Lysander. When things start to get rocky, the two lovers run away in the forest, followed by Demetrius and Helena and where Puck interferes and causes a heated mess between the lovers. In the end all turns out well and Hermia is allowed to live happily ever after with her beloved Lysander.

If you got mostly C. you are Desdemona from Othello! Desdemona is the daughter of Brabantio (a Venetian senator) and Othello’s wife. Desdemona is a courageous young woman defending her husband against her father’s racist disapproval and she remains faithful to her husband until her very last breath. She thinks the best of people and gives everyone a chance. She is also an extremely caring and empathetic character.

If you got mostly D. you are Viola from Twelfth Night! Viola survives a shipwreck at the start of the play which separates her from her twin brother Sebastian and she ends up on shore in Illyria. There she decides to cross-dress as a man and to take a job at Duke Orsino’s court. As the boy servant, “Cesario,” Viola quickly becomes Orsino’s favorite page and is given the task of wooing Olivia on Orsino’s behalf. As “Cesario,” Viola’s a little too good at her job and she finds herself in the middle of a messy love triangle when Olivia falls in love with “Cesario,” who can’t return the Countess’s favors because Viola is in love with the Duke. I promise you, it all works out in the end.

Which evil Shakespeare character are you?

What is your guilty pleasure?

A. Nagging my spouse.

B. Wooing my brother’s wife.

C. Manipulating people, duh.

D. Plotting murder. 

What are you most skilled in?

A. Pep talks.

B. Pathologically lying.

C. Gaslighting.

D. Turning someone into a hitman. 

What is your worst flaw?

A. I married a coward.

B. Murderous tendencies.

C. I have none. I’m perfect, don’t you see?

D. Jealousy. 

What is your biggest fear?

A. That I won’t become queen of Scotland (I deserve it).

B. That my nephew will come after me for murdering his father (my brother).

C. Failing to manipulate people, it’s so entertaining, mouahahaha.

D. Caesar ruling one more day. 

Do you believe in love?

A. There’s no such thing, I only believe in power.

B. Love? What is that?

C. In other people yes, and boy, don’t I love ruining romantic relationships.

D. Don’t have the time for the affairs of the heart. 

If you got mostly A. you are Lady Macbeth from Macbeth! Lady Macbeth is the wife of the play’s tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman). She encourages her husband to commit regicide and consequently becomes queen of Scotland. She’s got quite some power over her husband as she manipulates him to do as she pleases, especially when it comes to killing others. After he becomes a murderous tyrant, surprisingly, Lady Macbeth looses her cool and is driven to madness by guilt and as a result commits suicide.

If you got mostly B. you are Claudius from Hamlet! King Claudius is the brother of King Hamlet, whom he secretly assassinates in order to become king. He then marries his brother’s wife, Gertrude, and becomes Prince Hamlet’s stepfather. Prince Hamlet finds out about the assassination once his father’s ghost pays him a visit and plans to kill him. Claudius gets suspicious about Hamlet once he starts behaving all weird and hires his childhood friends to keep an eye on him. Claudius eventually comes up with a plan that will kill Hamlet but ends up slain by him right before he dies.  

If you got mostly C. you are Iago from Othello! Iago is Othello’s standard-bearer and trusted advisor but he hates his guts. He plans to destroy him through manipulation by making him believe that his wife Desdemona is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio. Iago is one of Shakespeare’s most sinister villains, often considered such because of the unique trust that Othello places in him, which he betrays while maintaining his reputation for honesty and dedication. Iago is a Machiavellian schemer and manipulator, as he is often referred to as “honest Iago”, displaying his skill at deceiving other characters so that not only do they not suspect him, but they count on him as the person most likely to be truthful.

If you got mostly D. you are Cassius from Julius Caesar! Cassius is the leader and organizer of the assassination plot to kill Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome. Motivated by his envy and jealousy over Caesar’s rise to power, Cassius manipulates others to join him. A keen letter writer, Cassius forges letters from dissatisfied citizens to influence Brutus, a fellow senator and general. Cassius had been Caesar’s friend for much of their lives; in addition, Cassius served as a capable general under Caesar.

Which drama-llama Shakespeare character are you?

You identify as:

A. A spaniel and a bit of an emotional roller coaster to be honest.

B. A hilarious person.

C. The worthy heir to the throne.

D. A master procrastinator.

Do you have any best friends?

A. I used to when I was little but my crush is now pining after her so we’re not on speaking terms.

B. Does plotting murder together make us best buds?

C. What is that?

D. I might have, like, two friends, but I don’t even bother remembering their names right.

What is your relationship status?

A. A situationship, I guess (sighs).

B. Single like a happy pringle!

C. I’m married to my terrifying spouse.

D. I have a girlfriend, but I have more important things to deal with right now! Stop distracting me!

When were you at your lowest?

A. When I slept with this dude who didn’t even love me back.

B. Whenever I have to deal with storms (they’re scary!).

C. When I lost my wife who was my rock whenever I freaked out about all the crimes I committed.

D. When I accidentally killed my girlfriend’s dad thinking he was my treacherous uncle!

In times of trouble you tend to…

A. Run after my lover in the forest, duh.

B. There’s no trouble anymore if you runaway and disappear, right?

C. I freak out to my wife.

D. I ruminate and wear black clothes (I’m in my emo era).

If you got mostly A. you are Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Helena is a young Athenian who at the start of the play is in love with Demetrius who is in love with another gal. Regardless, Helena stands her ground and remains committed to her lover. She’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and takes things to heart, but in the end of the day all she wants is to be loved back. And in the end she succeeds!

If you got mostly B. you are Caska from Julius Caesar! Caska is one of the conspirators against Julius Ceaser who assassinated him. He’s quite dramatic, terrified of the weather and extremely superstitious. Cassius describes him as smarter than what he appears to be and decides he will be the first to stab Caesar. Caska fled from Rome after the assassination.

If you got mostly C. you are Macbeth from Macbeth! You guessed it, Macbeth is the protagonist of his eponymous play. Now, he’s a bit of a mess: when he is told that he is to become king, he starts killing in order for that to become true. But it comes at a cost as his conscious awakes and he gets eaten up with guilt. Now, you’d think that he would stop killing after this, but nooooo, he continues doing just that in order to remain king. Lady Macbeth, his emotional support system in this bloody business is the only one that manages to make Macbeth stick to his plan whenever he’s about to lose it…until she loses it herself.

If you got mostly D. you are Hamlet from Hamlet! Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark and mourns his father at the start of the play, dresses in black and is kind of the equivalent of a teenager going through his emo phase. When he finds out his uncle killed his father and is required from his father’s ghost to avenge his death, Hamlet starts to slowly but surely lose it… He spends sleepless nights ruminating and going through one existential crises after another, harasses his girlfriend and mother, kills the wrong person, and so on.

Categories
2022 - Spring

Literary Quizzes

Image: ©️ USA-Reiseblogger – Pixabay Licence. Source.

Complete the titles or authors’ names of the following works: 

I Know Why the ___ ___ Sings by Maya Angelou

The ___ Land by T. S. Eliot

Moby Dick by ______ _____

___ Lost by John Milton

“The ___ Speaks of ___ ” by Langston Hughes

Little Women by _____ ________

The ___ Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Le Morte d’Arthur by _____ _____

A Rose for Emily by ______ _____

Pick the right answer for the ending of each of these stanzas:

From William Blake’s “The Tyger”:

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

________________________

________________________

  1. And when thy heart began to beat, / What dread hand? & what dread feet?
  2. What the anvil? what dread grasp, / Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
  3. What immortal hand or eye, / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

From Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death”

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

________________________

  1. We passed the Setting Sun –
  2. My Tippet – only Tulle –
  3. The Cornice – in the Ground –

From Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”

 And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

_______________________________________________

            ___________________

  1. Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door— / Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
  2. Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;— / This it is and nothing more.
  3. And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor / Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Guess the work and author the following summaries come from:

Emotionally damaged young adult boy drops out of school, consistantly rants about adults being a bunch of fakes, befriends a prostitute and a couple of nuns and keeps nagging everybody else about the ducks from Central Park asking them where the hell do they all go in the winter. Last but not least, he desires to preserve a child’s innocence. 

Answer: ________________________

Young prince deals with an existential crisis while his widowed mother marries his uncle (who we don’t like by the way) and his father’s ghost visits him every now and then to spook him into avenging his death. And of course, his solution to it all is (drumroll please) to pretend to go all nuts, procrastinating on killing his uncle, accidently stabbing the wrong dude, dramatically harassing his mom, driving his ex to insanity, and talking to himself instead of taking action. 

Answer: ________________________

** Scroll down to see the answers :)

Answers:

First quiz:

  • Caged Bird
  • Waste
  • Herman Melville
  • Paradise
  • Negro ; Rivers
  • Louisa May Alcott
  • Canterbury
  • Thomas Malory
  • William Faulkner

Second quiz:

  • For Blake’s “The Tyger” : 2.
  • For Dickinson’s poem: 6.
  • For Poe’s “Raven”: 9.

Last quiz:

  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Categories
2021 - Spring

Which English Department Staff Member are You Most Like?

Image: © Lex Rodriguez

Authors: Oscar Jordan & Lex Rodriguez

 

 

I think all English students will agree when MUSE says that the English Department wins the “who has the best Unil staff?” competition ;) If you want to know which staff member’s tastes resemble yours the most, take this quiz to find out! If your curiosity still asks for more, fear not, you can always check our two previous quizzes with other fabulous staff members here: part 1 and part 2. Enjoy!

Categories
2020 - Winter

Which English Department Staff Member Are You Most Like, part 2!

We all know the English department staff members as lecturers… but what about as people? We here at MUSE have crafted this quiz based on answers from a series of staff members in order to help you decide.

Find out which one you are most like by taking our quiz now!

We hope you enjoy it, and that you’re ready to think really hard about sandwiches!

Categories
2019 - Winter

Which English Department Staff Member Are You Most Like?

We all know the English department staff members as lecturers… but what about as people? We here at MUSE have crafted this quiz based on answers from a series of staff members in order to help you decide.

Find out which one you are most like by taking our quiz now!

We hope you enjoy it, and that your favourite colour is blue ;)

… and to those disappointed their favourite professor wasn’t on the list, don’t worry, there will be another quiz in the next edition.

Categories
2018 - Winter

MUSEfeed quiz 2018- what should you study in the English department?

Image: Studying © Sarel Kromer. Source – CC Licence

Author: Sorcha Walsh

As one of the Lettres faculty’s biggest departments, the English department offers a wealth of different classes. We here at MUSE have crafted this quiz to help you decide- should you orient yourself towards Medieval literature, Early Modern and modern literature, American literature and culture, Comparative Literature, Gender Studies or English Linguistics?

Head right on over to BuzzFeed to find out.

Categories
2017 - Winter

MuseFeed Quiz Winter 2017

Image: “Typewriter” by Nathan Oakley.  Under CC License.

As anyone who’s ever been an English student knows, many influential authors have shaped the world around them with their revolutionary ideas and brilliant new ways of expressing them. But just for the time it will take you to do this quiz, how about you forget all that and just focus on what’s really important here- their sense of style? This expertly constructed quiz will help you find who your  literary soulmate is… from a strictly sartorial point of view.

Click here to take the quiz!

Categories
2016 - Winter

MUSEfeed Quiz!

Image: “Typewriter” by Lane Pearman. SourceCC License

Do you like answering absurd questions where the result pretends to know who you are as a person? Do you like to imagine to which kind of household appliance or, even better, to which English language writer your personality matches best?

MUSE has created THE quiz for you! We have carefully concoted a quiz of 10 obviously scientific questions that will help you figure out who your alter ego writer is!

 

To take the test, just click here!

Categories
2014 - December

English Department Quiz

Our partner, Books Books Books, the only English bookshop in Lausanne, and ourselves are launching a quiz that will allow you to win awesome coupons for the bookstore! All you have to do is complete the quiz and send it to muse.unil@gmail.com (please indicate in the subject “Books Books Books contest”) until the 15th January, and we will choose three lucky winners by drawing lots from the people who have successfully answered the questions.

The first prize will get a 50 CHF coupon, the second one a 30CHF coupon and the third winner will get a 20CHF coupon. Isn’t this great? Think about all the books you’ll be able to buy – this is paradise!

Good luck!

(Hint: you will find all the answers on the department’s website, so start browsing!)

 

English Department Quiz 

  1. Who edited Kathleen Jamie’s poems?

a. Kirsten Stirling

b. Rachel Falconer

c. Enit Steiner

  1. Who worked on a volume called Essential Grammar in Use?

a. Boris Vejdovsky

b. Roelof Overmeer

c. Martine Hennard Dutheil

  1. Who is in charge of the department’s Language Lab?

a. Louise Gladwin

b. Marie Emilie Walz

c. Alexandre Fachard

  1. Who, amongst others, is working on late medieval religiosity in England?

a. Camille Marshall

b. Mary Flannery

c. Diana Denissen

  1. Who directed a Mémoire on “urban sprawl and the hip hop revolution”?

a. Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet

b. Alexandre Fachard

c. Marco Nievergelt

  1. Who wrote a volume on Hell in contemporary literature?

a. Philip Lindholm

b. Patricia Ronan

c. Rachel Falconer

  1. Who studied at the University of Vienna?

a. Anita Auer

b. Marije van Hattum

c. Najat Zein

  1. Who is working on contemporary Colombian television?

a. Rachel Nisbet

b. Isis Giraldo

c. Tino Oudesluijs

  1. Who is in charge of the Advanced Essay-Writing Workshop?

a. Kader Hegedüs

b. Denis Renevey

c. Marie Walz

  1. Who published a book on Jane Austen in Switzerland?

a. Valérie Cossy

b. Kader Hegedüs

c. Jurg Schwyter