Byron may have been mad, bad and dangerous to know, but how’s your knowledge of the rest of the Young Romantics? Are you a connoisseur of Keats, or a specialist on Shelley? Take this light-hearted quiz to find out how much you really know about this dazzling generation of English poets. There are four possible answers to the questions below, and one of them relates to Byron, Keats or Shelley. There’s a point for every correct answer, and some bonus points to be won as well, if you can spot a few Romantic red herrings I’ve hidden in here too…
Answers should be emailed to dblackburn @ spectator.co.uk. The winner will receive a signed first edition of Lynn Shepherd’s new book A Treacherous Likeness. Answers will be published next Wednesday.
1 Who as a child
a) Sent a cat up in a kite in the midst of a storm
b) Lost his father at the age of eight when he died falling from his horse
c) Was bullied by his eight older brothers
d) Played in the very first Eton versus Harrow cricket match at Lord’s
2 Who
a) Left a Cambridge college to enlist in the army under the name ‘Silas Comberbache’
b) Wrote part of his first major work in an Oxford college
c) Kept a bear in a Cambridge college
d) Has a memorial in an Oxford college
3 Who had
a) A wife who was the daughter of a tavern-owner
b) A wife whose father went bankrupt
c) A wife who was the daughter of a colliery owner
d) No wife at all
4 Who
a) Swam the Hellespont at the age of 22
b) Was accused of pickpocketing as a child when acting out the swimming of the Hellespont
c) Said ‘I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.
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