Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

1 Which of the following does NOT characterize Thomas Hardy's writing?
Country folkways

The difficulties of life

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Disillusionment
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?
Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Ancient Southwestern England

Current day South England
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1879

1900

1898

1912
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
George Eliot

W.H. Auden

Robert Frost

Philip Larkin
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?
The speaker's true sense of passivity

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.

After breaking up with his ex-partner, the speaker maintains a facade of passivity that does not quite manage to conceal his bitterness.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?
She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

She has blue eyes.

She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.

She suffered more than the speaker did.
8 Define "rove."
(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
auspicious

threatening

lucky

futuristic
10 In which season is the poem set?
Unspecified

Summer

Winter

Spring
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Persistence of Memories

The Facade of Neutrality

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Optimism of Love
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?
casts

curses

chides

conceals
13 What does God do to the white sun in the fourth stanza?
hides

chides

curses

celebrates
14 What does the starving sod represent?
The ground of the speaker's relationship to his ex is sterile, as is the speaker's capacity for new love.

The lower-class people of Wessex suffered more than the upper-class.

The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Death, hibernation, and endings

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cycles, rest, and family
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The speaker's angry bitterness

The ending of the relationship

The ex-lover's smile

The setting and the facade of neutrality
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) disengenuous

(adjective) neutral
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCD

AABB

ABBA

The poem does not rhyme
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

None
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?
A raven arriving at one's doorstep

An ominous bird taking flight

A crow coming home to roost

A blackbird singing in a tree
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.
22 What is polysyndeton?
The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook

A kind of metaphor

A literary device in which one word refers in part to another
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
Winter

The white sun

The ex-partner's smile

The yellow sun
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?
"The change was like the knell"

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"

"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove / Over tedious riddles of years ago"

"And the sun was white, as though chidden of God"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Spiritualistic

Agnostic, but complexly so

Evangelical Christian

Neutral Tones Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Neutral Tones is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for Neutral Tones

Neutral Tones study guide contains a biography of Thomas Hardy, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for Neutral Tones…