Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

Country folkways

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Disillusionment
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?
Current day South England

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1900

1879

1912

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

Robert Frost

W.H. Auden

Philip Larkin
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?
The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's true sense of passivity
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.

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.
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 suffered more than the speaker did.

She has blue eyes.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.
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"?
lucky

threatening

futuristic

auspicious
10 In which season is the poem set?
Unspecified

Spring

Winter

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

The Facade of Neutrality

The Persistence of Memories

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

conceals

chides

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

hides

curses

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.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.

The lower-class people of Wessex suffered more than the upper-class.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Death, hibernation, and endings

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

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

The speaker's angry bitterness

The ex-lover's smile

The setting and the facade of neutrality
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) disengenuous

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) neutral
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
The poem does not rhyme

AABB

ABBA

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

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

None
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 requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.
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 white sun

The ex-partner's smile

Winter

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

"The change was like the knell"

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

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Evangelical Christian

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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