Lethe Quizzes

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Lethe Quiz

1 What does H.D.'s daughter's name mean in Spanish?
Loss

One who longs for something

Bird

One who is lonely
2 What was one of the great tragedies of H.D.'s life?
The stillbirth she suffered

Society did not find her beautiful

Freud rejected her as a patient

She was not respected as a poet
3 What radical school of thought was H.D. involved in besides the Imagist poetry scene?
European fascism

Ancient astrology

Psychoanalysis

Asceticism
4 What unconventional lifestyle did H.D. embrace for a period in her life?
Polyamory

Amish simplicity

Wildlife exploring

Caravan roaming
5 Who did H.D. have a relationship with until her death?
Winifred Ellerman

Helen of Egypt

Richard Aldington

Adrienne Rich
6 What was one famous characteristic trait of H.D.'s work?
Moralistic instruction

Radical indifference

Playful coyness

Precise imagery
7 What can you guess Ezra Pound once wrote in response to H.D.'s work?
"Speak against unconscious oppression, speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative, speak against bonds.”

“It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.”

"No excessive use of adjectives, no metaphors that won't permit examination. It's straight talk, straight as the Greek!''

“I desired my dust to be mingled with yours. Forever and forever and forever.”
8 What was the name of one of H.D.'s husbands?
Clellan

Philemon

Enoch

Kenneth
9 What was one of the reasons H.D. began analysis with Freud?
Someone recommended it to her

She had a dream where he invited her to come to Europe

She felt like she was born in the wrong body

Ezra Pound demanded it
10 What culture did H.D. draw on when her poetic style began to change?
Greek mythology

American puritanism

Orientalism

German philosophy
11 Where were H.D.'s poem first published?
Poetry magazine

The Edinburgh Review

The Examiner

German newspaper
12 When did H.D. personally feel her Imagist label no longer applied?
After she and Ezra Pound had a falling out

When fellow Imagist poets had an intervention and told her she was no longer part of the group

After the birth of her daughter

WWI onward
13 What ancient poet did H.D. translate and admire?
Anacreon

Catallus

Sappho

Apollonius Rhodius
14 What does the word "Lethe" mean in Greek?
Winter, darkness, solstice

Elegance, litheness, grace

Concealment, forgetfulness, oblivion

Escape, freedom, departure
15 What do the nouns of the first line of "Lethe" have in common?
They create a cheerful tone

They are foreshadowing

They come from living things

They represent death
16 In the context of the rest of the poem, what could "curtain of crimson" refer to?
A velvet robe

A river turned red from rock

The crimson sky

The blood of the fallen
17 What concept does the first stanza of "Lethe" center around?
Protection

Ascension

Disgrace

Violence
18 What sort of natural scenery does the second stanza of "Lethe" evoke?
Beautiful, visceral, alive

Chaotic, frenetic, overwhelming

Indifferent, numbing, nihilist

Ominous, frightening, deadly
19 What is "whin" and "gorse"?
A yellow-flowered shrub of the pea family

Tall stalky grass

Two separate types of wild horses

The moss-covered bark of trees
20 What might "wailing of reed-bird" symbolize?
The birth of a baby

A feeling of relief, comfort, numbness

A state of alertness, cognizance, and feeling

Nature crying for help
21 What do linnet and thrush have in common?
They are both exquisite wild flowers

They were both common illnesses in the 20th century

They are both dry, brown reeds

They are both small birds
22 In "Lethe" what does the speaker imply that the reader will long for above all the preceding sensations or experiences?
To be appreciated by nature

To become royalty of the woods

To see his or her lover at last

To be covered by the tide
23 In "Lethe" what will the reader presumably be without at the end of the poem?
Sweetness of oblivion

Lull of tide

Question and kiss

Lightness of forgetting
24 What could be said about the rhythm or prosody of the last two lines of "Lethe"?
It mimics the meaning of the stanza

It builds a slow sense of terror

It imitates the rhythm of the poem's first line

It is incredibly jarring
25 What does the speaker of "Lethe" imagine that the reader desires?
To experience oblivion

To live amongst the forest

To return to Ancient Greece

To become almighty

Lethe Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for Lethe

Lethe study guide contains a biography of H. D., literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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