Mean Time Quizzes

Mean Time Quiz Mean Time

1 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
It does not have a consistent rhyme scheme

ABB CBB DBB

ABBA CDDC

ABAB CDCD
2 When was this poem first published?
1993

1975

2017

1762
3 Where does the poem take place?
In a supermarket

Inside the speaker's house

In a hotel

On an unnamed city's streets
4 Why does the speaker believe that the rain is "unmendable"?
She is practical and crafty, and sees the world through the lens of mending and fixing

She is so sad that the world as a whole feels unfixable to her

She knows that the rain has already done irreparable damage

It is the beginning of hurricane season
5 Which of these lines contains alliteration?
"stole light from my life"

"unmendable rain"

"beyond all light"

"one hour from this day"
6 Which best describes the poem's conflict?
It is between the speaker and her siblings

It is between the speaker and her girlfriend as they endure a breakup

It is between the speaker on the one hand, and time on the other

It is between the town and the oppressive forces occupying it
7 How many stanzas does the poem contain?
5

3

4

6
8 Which best describes the poem's diction?
It is conversational and casual

It is slightly archaic

It is full of jargon and specialized language

It is flowery and ornate
9 Which is NOT a likely meaning of the poem's title?
Idle time occurring between two events

Average amount of time

Ungenerous or unkind time

Greenwich Mean Time
10 In which collection was this work published?
Mean Time

Collected Works of Carol Ann Duffy

The World's Wife

Little Red Cap
11 Which type of stanzas make up this work?
Tercets

Sestets

Couplets

Quatrains
12 In this poem, darkness is metaphorically used to represent what?
Ignorance

Privacy

Mystery

Sadness
13 Who is the poem's primary antagonist?
The speaker's mother

The speaker

Time itself

The speaker's ex-partner
14 Which best describes the speaker's mood?
Jubilant

Panicked

Thoughtful

Despondent
15 Which yearly event does the poem describe?
The winter solstice

The new moon

The first snow

The resetting of clocks in fall
16 Who is the poem's addressee?
The speaker's client

The speaker's ex-partner

The reader

The townspeople
17 What is the poem's meter?
Trochaic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Dactylic pentameter

Free verse
18 The phrase "bleak streets" is an instance of what?
Spondee

Simile

Personification

Onomatopoeia
19 Who is the poem's speaker?
A young woman who has just heard about her father's death

A priest preparing to hear confessions

A woman preparing for her wedding

An unnamed person reflecting after the end of a relationship
20 What recent event has occurred for the poem's speaker?
The birth of a child

A crisis of faith

A breakup

A diagnosis of illness
21 Which of the following is a major theme of this work?
The challenges of writing

Heartbreak

Human/animal relationships

Solitude
22 What is most closely meant by the word "gnaw" as used in this poem?
Eat

Torment

Grab

Bite
23 What is most closely meant by the word "bleak?"
Small

Uncomfortable

Sad

Poor
24 Which two words are an example of slant rhyme?
streets/mistakes

day/say

rain/gnaw

mean/time
25 The poem's description of "endless nights" is an instance of what?
Hyperbole

Enjambment

End rhyme

Understatement

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Study Guide for Mean Time

Mean Time study guide contains a biography of Carol Ann Duffy, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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