Quiz Time: Lines that United

A nation’s people should have common cultural bonds that unite a diverse citizenry.  In the past Americans had a corpus of poems, music, quotes, and fundamental historical documents they easily recognized and could often recite by heart.  This common bond contributed to the mortar that cemented an American self-image.  Below find parts of poems, songs, quotations and documents from our American heritage. Words or entire lines have been omitted. Can you fill in the blanks?  [Rating: fairly easy]

1   1)  The Preamble of the U. S. Constitution:  We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, ___?_____promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

2   2)  First stanza of Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!”

O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

            ______________?___________ (four lines)

3   3)  Theodore Roosevelt:  “In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is:____?____

4   4)  Mark Twain:  “Man is the only animal that blushes. ______?______

5   5)  Abraham Lincoln: Complete the first paragraph/sentence of the Gettysburg Address: Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, _______?________

6   6)  In his “First Annual Address” to Congress, George Washington said:  To be prepared for war is _______?_________.

7   7)   Finish the first verse of the cowboy song, “Streets of Laredo”

As I walked out in the Streets of Laredo

As I walked out in Laredo one day,

I spied a young cowboy,________?______ (one and a half lines)

8   8)   Complete the first verse of Joseph Brackett, Jr.’s “Simple Gifts”

‘Tis the gift to be simple,

“Tis the gift to be free,

“Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

_______?_________(last two lines)

9   9)   Complete this famous sentence from the first paragraph of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech:  “…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where ______?_____

1  10)  Emma Lazarus penned these words:

 “…Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

______?_________(last two lines; extra credit if you know the title of her poem)

1  11)  Finish the last line of the first verse of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn”

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood,

   _______?_________

1  12)  What is the first line of this Carl Sandburg poem with the rest of the first verse quoted?

_________?__________

Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,

Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;

City of Big Shoulders:   (deduct 10 points if you think the title is “New York”)

1  13)   Fill in the blanks on verse one of Katharine Lee Bates’ “America the Beautiful”

O beautiful for spacious skies,

   For amber waves of grain,

_________?_________

   Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

   God shed his grace on thee

________?__________

________?__________

1  14)   Complete the lines missing from the song “On a Bicycle Built for Two”

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.

I’m half crazy, all for the love of you

It won’t be a stylish marriage,

_______?________ (last three lines)

1  15)   Finally, complete the missing words/lines in the song, “That Old Gang of Mine.”

Gee, but, I’d give the world to see

That old gang of mine

I can’t forget that old quartet

That sang “_____?________”

Goodbye forever old fellows and gals

_________?___________

(_________?__________)

Gee, but I’d give the world to see

That old gang of mine.  (And if you can sing this one, you’re older than I!)

Answers: 1) …establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense…

2) But O heart! heart! heart!

            O bleeding drops of red,

                        Where on the deck my Captain lies,

                                    Fallen cold and dead.

3)  Hit the line hard.  4) Or needs to.  5) …conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.   6) …one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

7) …all wrapped in white linen

            Wrapped up in white linen and cold as the clay.

8)…And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

            It will be in the valley of love and delight.

9) …they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

10) Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.

            I lift my lamp beside the golden door.    [Title:  "The New Colossus"]

11) And fired the shot heard ‘round the world.     12) Hog Butcher for the World

13)  For purple mountain majesties…

            And crown thy good with brotherhood

                        From sea to shining sea!

14) I can’t afford a carriage.

            But you’ll look sweet upon the seat

            On a bicycle built for two

15)…“Sweet Adeline”…Goodbye forever old sweethearts and pals

(God bless them!)

And you too!