A Free Bird Leaps

Only the first question relates to today and the rest then follow a theme.

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky

  1. A poet born this day in 1928 wrote the above, who was the poet?
    • Maya Angelou
    • Octavia Butler
    • Toni Morrison

    The Robin to the Wren’s nest
    Cam keekin’ in, cam keekin’ in;
    O weel’s me on your auld pow,
    Wad ye be in, wad ye be in?
    Thou’s ne’er get leave to lie without,
    And I within, and I within,
    Sae lang’s I hae an auld clout
    To rowe ye in, to rowe ye in.

  2. The writer of the above verse was who?
    • Robert Burns
    • Walter Scott
    • James Hogg

    Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
    Bird thou never wert,
    That from Heaven, or near it,
    Pourest thy full heart
    In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
    Higher still and higher
    From the earth thou springest
    Like a cloud of fire;
    The blue deep thou wingest,
    And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

  3. What bird is written about in the above quote?
    • Blackbird
    • Dove
    • Skylark

    Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
    Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
        While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
    As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
    “’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
    Only this and nothing more.”

  4. The opening of a famous poem is shown above, who wrote it?
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Walt Whitman

    Why look’st thou so?’—With my cross-bow
    I shot the ___

  5. These words conclude part one of a poem, what bird is the final word the above quote?
    • Albatross
    • Buzzard
    • Cuckoo

Sheelah’s Day—Answers

Here, in bold, are the answers to the questions I posted earlier.

Sophie Myles, 2007.
Wikipedia
  1. Sophia MylesWikipedia describes her as “an English actress… best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds(2004), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde (2006), Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Erika in Underworld(2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006), and Freya in Outlander (2008)”.
  2. Caldwell, New Jersey—Stephen Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th US President, was the first Democrat elected after the Civil War and the first to serve two non-consecutive terms. Known for his honesty and principled approach, he blocked legislative excesses during his first term and championed political reform, fiscal conservatism, and classical liberalism, gaining support from both Democrats and Republicans. His presidency saw significant legislation such as the Interstate Commerce Act and the Dawes Act. However, his stance on government intervention during the economic collapse and the legacy of the Dawes Act have resulted in mixed assessments of his legacy.
    Wilfred Owen
    Wikipedia
  3. Wilfred Owen, an English poet and soldier, expressed anger at war’s cruelty and waste through his poetry. Based on his World War I experiences, his war poetry was about the horrors of trenches and gas warfare. At only 25 years of age, he was killed in action at the Battle of the Sambre on 4 November 1918, exactly a week before the war’s end. His best-known works— most of which were published posthumously— are Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum est, Futility, and Spring Offensive

    Final draft of Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen, penned by the author.
    Wikipedia
    Honoree Queen Latifah speaks at the Kennedy Center Honors dinner at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Saturday, December 2, 2023. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
    Wikipedia
  4. Queen Latifah—American musician and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album, All Hail the Queen, which blended diverse styles and feminist themes. The name Latifah is Arabic for “delicate” or “sensitive”.
  5. Neville Chamberlain—Prime Minister of the UK from 1937 to 1940—is known for his policy of appeasement towards Hitler’s Germany. He served in various government positions, including Chancellor of the Exchequer, before becoming Prime Minister. Despite signing the Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938, the latter’s invasion of Poland less than a year later compelled Chamberlain to declare war on Germany.
Chamberlain holding up the paper signed by both Hitler and himself on his return to Great Britain from Munich, Germany.
Wikipedia

Sheelah’s Day

Sheelah’s Day is celebrated on 18 March, the day after Saint Patrick’s Day, and is observed in the Irish diaspora in Australia and Canada. Although there are no Sheelahs included in my post today, all of the questions are about people born on 18 March.

Sheelah’s Day

Shamrock
Wikipedia

Sheelah’s Day is celebrated on 18 March the day after Saint Patrick’s Day and is observed in the Irish diaspora in Australia and Canada. No Sheelah’s included here today but all of the following are about people born on 18 March.

  1. Born 1980. Actress who links the following roles: Penelope (in 2004), Isolde (2006), Erika (2003 and 2006), Darcy (2014) and Freya (2008). Who is she?
    • Rose Keegan
    • Sophia Myles
    • Lucy Russell
    Grover Cleveland
    Wikipedia
  2. Born 1837, Grover Cleveland, served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Where was he born?
    • Amherst, New Hampshire
    • Brighton, New York
    • Caldwell, New Jersey
  3. Anthem for Doomed Youth was written by a war poet born this day in 1893. Who was he?
    • Rupert Brook
    • Wilfred Owen
    • Siegfried Sassoon
  4. Who is Dana Elaine Owens, born 18 March 1970, a musician and actress, better known as?
    • Lauryn Hill
    • Missy Elliott
    • Queen Latifah
  5. Born today in 1869, this British prime minister returned from Germany with a “piece of paper” promising to “have brought you back peace — but a peace I hope with honour.” Who was he?
    • Stanley Baldwin
    • Neville Chamberlain
    • Winston Churchill

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.