Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

The difficulties of life

Disillusionment

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Country folkways
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

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

1898

1912

1879

1900
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?

Robert Frost

Philip Larkin

W.H. Auden

George Eliot
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 has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?

She suffered more than the speaker did.

She has blue eyes.

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

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.
8 Define "rove."

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

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

threatening

lucky

futuristic

auspicious
10 In which season is the poem set?

Unspecified

Winter

Summer

Spring
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?

The Facade of Neutrality

The Optimism of Love

The Persistence of Memories

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

casts

chides

curses

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

hides

curses

chides

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 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.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?

Cycles, rest, and family

Death, hibernation, and endings

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cookies, Santa, and celebration
16 What is revealed in the first line?

The ending of the relationship

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The speaker's angry bitterness

The ex-lover's smile
17 Define "keen."

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) disengenuous

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

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

ABBA

AABB

ABCD

The poem does not rhyme
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

None
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?

A raven arriving at one's doorstep

A crow coming home to roost

An ominous bird taking flight

A blackbird singing in a tree
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

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.
22 What is polysyndeton?

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

A kind of metaphor

The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook

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

The yellow sun

Winter

The white sun

The ex-partner's smile
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?

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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