Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

1 Which of the following does NOT characterize Thomas Hardy's writing?
The optimistic view that God will save humanity

The difficulties of life

Country folkways

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

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Current day South England

Ancient Southwestern England
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1900

1912

1898

1879
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
Philip Larkin

W.H. Auden

George Eliot

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

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem
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.

After breaking up with his ex-partner, the speaker maintains a facade of passivity that does not quite manage to conceal his bitterness.

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?
She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.

She has blue eyes.

She suffered more than the speaker did.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.
8 Define "rove."
(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
auspicious

futuristic

threatening

lucky
10 In which season is the poem set?
Spring

Unspecified

Winter

Summer
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Optimism of Love

The Persistence of Memories

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Facade of Neutrality
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?
curses

chides

casts

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

celebrates

curses

chides
14 What does the starving sod represent?
The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.

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

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

The ground of the speaker's relationship to his ex is sterile, as is the speaker's capacity for new love.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Death, hibernation, and endings

Cycles, rest, and family
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The ending of the relationship

The ex-lover's smile

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The speaker's angry bitterness
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) disengenuous

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) neutral

(noun) a heartfelt cry
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
AABB

The poem does not rhyme

ABCD

ABBA
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
None

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

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

A raven arriving at one's doorstep

An ominous bird taking flight

A blackbird singing in a tree
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.
22 What is polysyndeton?
A kind of metaphor

A literary device in which one word refers in part to another

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 yellow sun

Winter

The ex-partner's smile

The white sun
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?
"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"

"And the sun was white, as though chidden of God"

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

"The change was like the knell"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Evangelical Christian

Agnostic, but complexly so

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Spiritualistic

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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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