Incident (Trethewey Poem) Quizzes

Incident (Trethewey Poem) Quiz

1 When was the poem published?
2000

2006

2001

2015
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Earnest and simple

Warm and direct

Dark and eerie

Distant and removed
3 Which of the following is NOT a poem by Trethewey?
Native Guard

Myth

Parker's Mood

Incident
4 What kind of story does the mood of the poem imitate?
A heroic ballad

A love song

A ghost story

A sea shanty
5 What does the poem depict?
A family's home being burned down

Members of the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross

A major holiday

A murder in the woods
6 What prize did Trethewey receive for the collection that "Incident" was included in?
The National Book Award

The Pulitzer Prize

The Bollingen Prize

A Golden Globe
7 What form does the poem utilize?
Pantoum

Sonnet

Villanelle

Haiku
8 Where was Trethewey born?
Austin, Texas

Richmond, Virginia

Gulfport, Mississippi

Montreal, Canada
9 What is the structure of a pantoum?
The second and fourth lines of a stanza are reused as the first and third lines of the next stanza

Ten lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, followed by a rhyming couplet

Two lines of five syllables and one line of seven syllables

Six lines with an ABBACC rhyme scheme
10 Where is the poem set?
In the woods

In Birmingham, Alabama

In Little Rock, Arkansas

In a small town at night, likely in the South
11 What is the title of the collection the poem was originally included in?
Native Guard

Thrall

Domestic Work

Monument
12 What pronoun does the speaker use to refer to themselves?
They

I

She

We
13 Which of the following lines contains assonance?
"We tell the story every year—"

"at the cross trussed like a Christmas tree,"

"It seemed the angels had gathered, white men in their gowns."

"we darkened our rooms, lit the hurricane lamps."
14 What does the speaker compare the Klan members to?
Beasts

Loose flames

Demons

Angels
15 Which of the following lines is an example of personification?
"By morning all the flames had dimmed."

"the charred grass still green."

"The wicks trembled all night in their fonts of oil;"

"Nothing really happened."
16 What is a "hurricane lamp"?
An oil lantern

A specially designed lightbulb

A flashlight

A candle
17 Why does the speaker use the word "trembling" to describe the wick of the hurricane lamp?
Because the men outside were afraid

Because it suggests the fear they felt in that moment

Because the fire wasn't burning brightly

Because it rhymes with the next line
18 Which of the following is an important symbol in the poem?
Flames

The trees

Rivers

The moon
19 When does the climax of the poem occur?
When the speaker retells the story

When the speaker peers out the window

When the men are shown around the cross

The morning after the cross burning
20 Who are the antagonists of the poem?
The governor

The members of the Klan

A disembodied force

The other townspeople
21 What is the meaning of the word "charred"?
Burnt and blackened

Shining brightly

Grilled

Crunched
22 Which of the following is NOT a theme of the poem?
Fear

Storytelling

Love

Repression
23 What is depicted in the poem "Myth"?
The story of Icarus

The story of Iphigenia

The story of Orpheus

The story of Hades
24 What is the genre of the poem?
Pastiche

Ekphrasis

Victorian poetry

Historical poetry
25 What is foreshadowed in the poem's opening lines?
That the speaker is bad at telling stories

That the speaker's family is close

That the speaker is nosy

That the speaker witnessed something troubling

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Study Guide for Incident (Trethewey Poem)

Incident (Trethewey Poem) study guide contains a biography of Natasha Trethewey, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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