Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

1 Which of the following does NOT characterize Thomas Hardy's writing?
The difficulties of life

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Country folkways

Disillusionment
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?
Ancient Southwestern England

Current day South England

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Hardy's town of origin
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1912

1900

1898

1879
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
George Eliot

Philip Larkin

Robert Frost

W.H. Auden
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 ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The speaker's preference for a muted palette
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

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 suffered more than the speaker did.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

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

She has blue eyes.
8 Define "rove."
(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

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

futuristic

threatening

lucky
10 In which season is the poem set?
Unspecified

Winter

Summer

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

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Facade of Neutrality

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

casts

chides

curses
13 What does God do to the white sun in the fourth stanza?
chides

curses

celebrates

hides
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.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

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

The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cycles, rest, and family

Death, hibernation, and endings
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The ex-lover's smile

The speaker's angry bitterness

The ending of the relationship

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?
The poem does not rhyme

ABBA

AABB

ABCD
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

None

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?
A crow coming home to roost

An ominous bird taking flight

A blackbird singing in a tree

A raven arriving at one's doorstep
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.
22 What is polysyndeton?
A literary device in which one word refers in part to another

A kind of metaphor

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
The ex-partner's smile

The white sun

Winter

The yellow sun
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?
"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"

"The change was like the knell"

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Evangelical Christian

Spiritualistic

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Agnostic, but complexly so

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

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