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?
Hardy's town of origin

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Current day South England
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1898

1879

1912

1900
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 speaker's preference for a muted palette

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's true sense of passivity
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.

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.
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."
(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a secret place in a forest

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

auspicious

lucky

futuristic
10 In which season is the poem set?
Winter

Spring

Unspecified

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

The Persistence of Memories

The Facade of Neutrality

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

casts

chides

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

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.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Cycles, rest, and family

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Death, hibernation, and endings
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The setting and the facade of neutrality

The ending of the relationship

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?
ABCD

AABB

ABBA

The poem does not rhyme
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 raven arriving at one's doorstep

A blackbird singing in a tree

A crow coming home to roost

An ominous bird taking flight
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
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.

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

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
The ex-partner's smile

Winter

The yellow sun

The white 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"

"The change was like the knell"

"And the sun was white, as though chidden of God"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Spiritualistic

Evangelical Christian

Agnostic, but complexly so

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Neutral Tones Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Neutral Tones is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for Neutral Tones…