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

One who is lonely

Bird
2 What was one of the great tragedies of H.D.'s life?
Society did not find her beautiful

She was not respected as a poet

Freud rejected her as a patient

The stillbirth she suffered
3 What radical school of thought was H.D. involved in besides the Imagist poetry scene?
Psychoanalysis

Asceticism

European fascism

Ancient astrology
4 What unconventional lifestyle did H.D. embrace for a period in her life?
Amish simplicity

Wildlife exploring

Caravan roaming

Polyamory
5 Who did H.D. have a relationship with until her death?
Adrienne Rich

Helen of Egypt

Winifred Ellerman

Richard Aldington
6 What was one famous characteristic trait of H.D.'s work?
Radical indifference

Moralistic instruction

Precise imagery

Playful coyness
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?
Philemon

Enoch

Kenneth

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

She felt like she was born in the wrong body

Ezra Pound demanded it

She had a dream where he invited her to come to Europe
10 What culture did H.D. draw on when her poetic style began to change?
American puritanism

Orientalism

German philosophy

Greek mythology
11 Where were H.D.'s poem first published?
German newspaper

Poetry magazine

The Edinburgh Review

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

WWI onward

After the birth of her daughter

When fellow Imagist poets had an intervention and told her she was no longer part of the group
13 What ancient poet did H.D. translate and admire?
Apollonius Rhodius

Anacreon

Sappho

Catallus
14 What does the word "Lethe" mean in Greek?
Elegance, litheness, grace

Concealment, forgetfulness, oblivion

Escape, freedom, departure

Winter, darkness, solstice
15 What do the nouns of the first line of "Lethe" have in common?
They create a cheerful tone

They are foreshadowing

They represent death

They come from living things
16 In the context of the rest of the poem, what could "curtain of crimson" refer to?
A river turned red from rock

The blood of the fallen

The crimson sky

A velvet robe
17 What concept does the first stanza of "Lethe" center around?
Violence

Ascension

Disgrace

Protection
18 What sort of natural scenery does the second stanza of "Lethe" evoke?
Chaotic, frenetic, overwhelming

Ominous, frightening, deadly

Indifferent, numbing, nihilist

Beautiful, visceral, alive
19 What is "whin" and "gorse"?
Tall stalky grass

A yellow-flowered shrub of the pea family

The moss-covered bark of trees

Two separate types of wild horses
20 What might "wailing of reed-bird" symbolize?
Nature crying for help

The birth of a baby

A feeling of relief, comfort, numbness

A state of alertness, cognizance, and feeling
21 What do linnet and thrush have in common?
They are both exquisite wild flowers

They are both dry, brown reeds

They were both common illnesses in the 20th century

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 covered by the tide

To see his or her lover at last

To be appreciated by nature

To become royalty of the woods
23 In "Lethe" what will the reader presumably be without at the end of the poem?
Lull of tide

Question and kiss

Sweetness of oblivion

Lightness of forgetting
24 What could be said about the rhythm or prosody of the last two lines of "Lethe"?
It is incredibly jarring

It imitates the rhythm of the poem's first line

It builds a slow sense of terror

It mimics the meaning of the stanza
25 What does the speaker of "Lethe" imagine that the reader desires?
To return to Ancient Greece

To experience oblivion

To live amongst the forest

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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