Gwendolyn Smith 

The moon in literature – quiz

It's 45 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the surface of the moon. Our mission for you? Test your knowledge of lunar literature
  
  


  1. In which Katherine Mansfield short story do two characters spend an intimate moment staring at a pear tree that seems “almost to touch the rim of the round, silver moon”?

    1. Bliss

    2. The Garden Party

    3. Psychology

    4. Sun and Moon

  2. In the journal Italian Journey, Goethe documents his love of doing a certain activity in moonlight. What is it?

    1. Gardening

    2. Walking

    3. Dancing

    4. Sledging

  3. Roverandom is a story about a dog who flew to the moon written by which fantasy author to console his/her four-year-old son over the loss of a treasured toy dog?

    1. George RR Martin

    2. JRR Tolkien

    3. JK Rowling

    4. CS Lewis

  4. "The stars about the lovely moon/ fade back and vanish very soon,/ When, round and full, her silver face/ Swims into sight, and lights all space.” Which writer of the ancient world is behind these lines?

    1. Horace

    2. Sappho

    3. Homer

    4. Aeschylus

  5. A projector on Mount Fuji beams adverts on to the face of the moon in which sci-fi novel?

    1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

    2. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

    3. The War of the Worlds by HG Wells

    4. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

  6. “O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon,/ That monthly changes in her circle orb,/ Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” Who is lamenting the mutable nature of the moon, and in which Shakespeare play?

    1. Viola in Twelfth Night

    2. Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

    3. Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream

    4. Juliet in Romeo and Juliet

  7. "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." Which Russian writer is behind this quote?

    1. Anton Chekhov

    2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    3. Leo Tolstoy

    4. Vladimir Nabokov

  8. "When your night comes,/ I see you staring back as though you can hear my Darlings,/ what have you done, what you have done to the earth?” Who penned the voice of this anthropomorphised, female moon?

    1. Adrienne Rich

    2. Emily Dickinson

    3. Seamus Heaney

    4. Carol Ann Duffy

  9. In which religion's creation myth is the moon worn as a jewel on a god's forehead?

    1. Hinduism

    2. Christianity

    3. Islam

    4. Sikhism

  10. What colour is the fantastical moon in Edward Lear's poem The Quangle Wangle's Hat?

    1. Orange

    2. Silver

    3. Mulberry

    4. Black

  11. “The thoughts don't need Billy and Mabel tonight. The world will turn without them. The moon will shine without them.” Which romantic hero composed this comforting nursery rhyme?

    1. Gilbert Blythe of Anne of Green Gables

    2. Mark Darcy of Bridget Jones' Diary

    3. Edward Ferrars of Sense and Sensibility

    4. Rupert Campbell Black of Jilly Cooper's The Rutshire Chronicles

  12. How did WH Auden describe the moon landings?

    1. “A blast into the past”

    2. “A huge phallic adventure”

    3. “A hoax”

    4. “A lunar-lit disappointment”

Solutions

1:A, 2:B, 3:B, 4:B, 5:B, 6:D, 7:A, 8:D, 9:A, 10:C, 11:B, 12:B

Scores

  1. 3 and above.

    Sadly, your lunar knowledge seems to be in eclipse on this occasion.

  2. 6 and above.

    Not bad, but with a bit more practice, a small step could become a giant leap into lunar learning.

  3. 8 and above.

    Congratulations - you have achieved a full moon.

 

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