The Buck in the Snow Quizzes

The Buck in the Snow Quiz

1 Which best describes the speaker?

The speaker is a lightly veiled version of the poet

The speaker is an aging hunter

The speaker is a baby deer

The speaker is unidentified
2 How does the buck die?

From hunters

From the cold

From disease

The cause of the death is never stated
3 Which sound creates alliteration in the phrase "Under the heavy hemlocks"?

H

N

M

V
4 Which best describes the speaker's relationship to the buck?

Curious observation

Tentative interaction

Intimate friendship

Violent pursuit
5 Millay uses a simile to compare falling snow to which of the following?

A bomb

Blood

A feather

Tears
6 Who does the speaker address in the poem's opening lines?

The doe

Herself

The sky

The snow
7 When was this poem published?

1928

1945

1918

1933
8 What is a buck?

A baby deer

A female deer

A deer without antlers

A male deer
9 Which of the following lines includes personification?

I saw them suddenly go

into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.

letting fall a feather of snow

How strange a thing is death
10 Which collection was this poem originally a part of?

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Renascance

The Buck in the Snow

Second April
11 Which detail may allude to the story of the garden of Eden?

The snow

The hemlocks

The wall

The apple trees
12 What is the poem's form?

Haiku

Sonnet

It does not follow a traditional poetic form

Ode
13 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBA BBCC ABCBA

AAAAA B CCCCC

ABABAB CDCDCD

AAAAA A BACDAA
14 What is the most prominent effect of the poem's repeated long O end rhymes?

A firm, opinionated tone

Emphasis on the similar-sounding word "doe"

A quizzical tone

A ghostly, mournful mood
15 Which best defines the word "hemlock" as used in this poem?

A conifer tree

A poisonous plant

A heavy lock used in barns

A type of deer
16 How does Millay emphasize the contrast between the buck's blood and the snow?

By using assonance

By juxtaposing their red and white colors

By placing the words "blood" and "snow" in two different lines

By using the word "scalding"
17 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?

Racism

Death

Nature

Human/Animal interactions
18 Which of the following does the "white sky" NOT suggest?

The winter cold

Nature's indifference

The coming of death

The effects of climate change
19 What can the blood be said to symbolize?

Ancestry

Life

Guilt

War
20 What types of stanza appear in this work?

A quintet, a monostich, and a sestet

An octave and a sestet

Two quintets and a couplet

Two quintains and two couplets
21 What does the orchard symbolize?

Nature's power over humanity

The world of human society

The abundance of summer

The speaker's creativity
22 How does Millay dramatize the revelation of the buck's death?

By using an exclamation point

By placing it in a separate line

By altering the rhyme scheme

By making it unclear whether he is alive
23 Alliterative S sounds in the phrase "I saw them. I saw them suddenly go" communicate which of the following?

The rushing of water outside

A sense of speed and movement

The speaker's secrecy

The deers' inability to speak clearly
24 Who is the poem's antagonist?

The doe

The speaker

The buck

Death
25 Which of the following does NOT describe the poem's tone?

Furious

Contemplative

Reflective

Philosophical

The Buck in the Snow Questions and Answers

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

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Buck in the Snow

The Buck in the Snow study guide contains a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Buck in the Snow…