Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

Disillusionment

Country folkways

The difficulties of life

The optimistic view that God will save humanity
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?

1912

1879

1900

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

Philip Larkin

Robert Frost

George Eliot

W.H. Auden
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature
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 has blue eyes.

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.
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

futuristic

threatening

lucky
10 In which season is the poem set?

Spring

Unspecified

Winter

Summer
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Facade of Neutrality

The Optimism of Love

The Persistence of Memories
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?

conceals

chides

casts

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

chides

celebrates

hides

curses
14 What does the starving sod represent?

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

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 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

Death, hibernation, and endings

Cycles, rest, and family
16 What is revealed in the first line?

The speaker's angry bitterness

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The ex-lover's smile

The ending of the relationship
17 Define "keen."

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) neutral

(adjective) disengenuous

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

The poem does not rhyme

AABB

ABCD

ABBA
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

None

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

A blackbird singing in a tree

An ominous bird taking flight

A crow coming home to roost

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 requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.
22 What is polysyndeton?

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

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

A kind of metaphor

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

The white sun

The ex-partner's smile

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

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

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

Agnostic, but complexly so

Spiritualistic

Evangelical Christian

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

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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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