Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Country folkways

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

Hardy's town of origin

Current day South England

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1912

1898

1879

1900
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
W.H. Auden

Philip Larkin

George Eliot

Robert Frost
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."

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 is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

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

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

She suffered more than the speaker did.
8 Define "rove."
(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a secret place in a forest
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
futuristic

lucky

auspicious

threatening
10 In which season is the poem set?
Winter

Unspecified

Summer

Spring
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Facade of Neutrality

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Optimism of Love

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

curses

casts

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.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

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.
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 ex-lover's smile

The ending of the relationship

The speaker's angry bitterness

The setting and the facade of neutrality
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) neutral

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) disengenuous
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 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 blackbird singing in a tree

A crow coming home to roost

A raven arriving at one's doorstep

An ominous bird taking flight
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 is cruel but it pays off.

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

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

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

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Evangelical Christian

Agnostic, but complexly so

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Spiritualistic

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…