Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

Country folkways

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Disillusionment

The difficulties of life
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?

Ancient Southwestern England

Current day South England

Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?

1912

1879

1900

1898
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?

W.H. Auden

Robert Frost

George Eliot

Philip Larkin
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?

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.

The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?

She suffered more than the speaker did.

She has blue eyes.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.
8 Define "rove."

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

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

lucky

auspicious

futuristic

threatening
10 In which season is the poem set?

Spring

Summer

Unspecified

Winter
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?

The Facade of Neutrality

The Persistence of Memories

The Optimism of Love

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?

curses

casts

conceals

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

curses

hides

chides

celebrates
14 What does the starving sod represent?

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.

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?

Death, hibernation, and endings

Cycles, rest, and family

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cookies, Santa, and celebration
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) neutral

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

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

ABBA

AABB

The poem does not rhyme

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 raven arriving at one's doorstep

A blackbird singing in a tree
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 incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.
22 What is polysyndeton?

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

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

A kind of metaphor

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

Winter

The yellow sun

The white sun

The ex-partner's smile
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?

"The change was like the knell"

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

"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"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Spiritualistic

Agnostic, but complexly so

Evangelical Christian

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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.

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