The Ballad of the Landlord Quizzes

The Ballad of the Landlord Quiz

1 How does the theme of poverty manifest in "The Ballad of the Landlord"?
The landlord becomes poor after all his tenants stop paying rent

The tenant is able to move out because he is newly rich

The landlord holds power over the tenant because of his relative wealth

The tenant is wealthier than the landlord and therefore pays him extra rent
2 How does the theme of race appear in the poem?
The landlord and the tenant are both Black, but aren't equally wealthy

The tenant is the only white person in the landlord's building

The tenant's race leads him to be treated harshly and unfairly

The landlord refuses to rent to the tenant because he is Black
3 What broad trajectory does the tenant's tone take in the poem?
He begins patiently and politely but becomes increasingly upset and combative

He begins joyful and carefree but turns depressed and tired

He begins angrily but slowly softens as he talks to the landlord

He begins imploringly but soon becomes happy and relieved
4 What is the primary effect of the newspaper quotes that make up the poem's final stanza?
The quotes suggest that the justice system and the free press must work hand in hand

The quotes show how the media and the public at large perceive the tenant

The quotes show how the city changes in the decades following the New Deal

The quotes reveal the extent of the landlord's corrupt business practices
5 Who is the speaker at the start of the poem?
The landlord

The police officer

The newspaper reporter

The tenant
6 What number and type of stanzas does this poem contain?
Eight quatrains

Two quatrains followed by a sextet

Six quatrains followed by three tercents

Three couplets followed by four quatrains
7 Which is the rhyme scheme established in the first several stanzas of the poem?
AABBA

ABCB

ABB

ABACAB
8 Which types of meter does Hughes use most frequently in this poem?
Anapests and trochees

Iambs and Anapests

Trochees and iambs

Dactyls and iambs
9 Which best describes the use of figurative language in the poem?
The poem uses personification to make the abandoned building feel ominous

The poem uses metaphors to compare the landlord's property to a prison

The poem uses only two extended metaphors to compare the landlord and tenant's perspectives

The poem avoids figurative language, driving home the inescapable reality of the tenant's life
10 Which of the following devices appears in the phrase "Way last week"?
Anaphora

Hyperbole

Alliteration

Personification
11 What alliterative sound appears in the phrase "gonna get eviction orders"?
V

G

O

D
12 Why is the poem's songlike form ironic?
It suggests harmony between the tenants in the building, even though the landlord's policies divide them

It elides the increasingly obvious fact of the tenant's lifelong deafness

It evokes the sound of blues music despite the fact that the tenant is evicted for playing his instrument

Its pleasant rhythm and rhyme continue unabated even when the tenant's life is unpleasantly derailed
13 The tenant's phrase "You gonna cut off my heat?" is an example of which of the following?
Verbal irony

Situational irony

Dramatic irony

None of these
14 Which best describes the poem's setting?
London during World War II

California during the Gold Rush

New Orleans during the colonial period

An American city in the twentieth century
15 Who is the poem's antagonist?
The tenant

The judge

The mayor

The landlord
16 Which best describes the poem's major conflict?
The landlord and tenant's slow realization that they are cousins

The landlord's fruitless search for a disruptive tenant

The landlord's discovery of a murder scene in the tenant's home

The tenant's attempt to force his neglectful landlord into making repairs
17 Which most accurately describes the poem's climax?
The arrival of the police

The tenant asking the landlord to fix his roof

The tenant's bursting into song

The landlord falling down the stairs
18 Which is an example of understatement in the poem?
Um-huh! You talking high and mighty.

Well, that’s Ten Bucks more’n I’ll pay you /Till you fix this house up new.

Don’t you ’member I told you about it/ Way last week?

Police! Police!/Come and get this man!
19 What role do italics serve in this poem?
They emphasize the tenant's emotions as he speak

They reveal the inner thoughts of the tenant and landlord alike

They are used to describe physical actions, mainly by the police

They show that the landlord is speaking out loud
20 What does the poem's shift from quatrains to tercets emphasize?
The short, clipped nature of police interrogation

The removal of the tenant's voice and agency

The too-early death of the landlord's many renters

The pattern of waltzing at the landlord's party
21 Which of the following is NOT a major theme of this poem?
Racism

Poverty and class

Religion and spirituality

Beauty, art, and injustice
22 The landlord's claim "He’s trying to ruin the government/ And overturn the land!" is an instance of which of the following?
Caesura

Internal rhyme

Hyperbole

Volta
23 Which best describes the effect of the short lines in stanzas 7 and 8?
They reveal the speaker's exhaustion and confusion

They make the lines sound rushed and secretive

They mimic the tiny size of the tenant's apartment

They dramatize the abrupt, violent arrival of police
24 Which of the following devices are used heavily in the tenant's speech?
Rhetorical questions

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Metaphor
25 Which of the following real-world concerns does this poem allude to?
Urbanization and deforestation

Women's domestic labor

Housing rights

Workers' safety

Study Guide for The Ballad of the Landlord

The Ballad of the Landlord study guide contains a biography of Langston Hughes, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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The Ballad of the Landlord

by Langston Hughes

The Ballad of the Landlord Quiz

The Ballad of the Landlord Questions and Answers

Study Guide for The Ballad of the Landlord

Lesson Plan for The Ballad of the Landlord