The Buck in the Snow Quizzes

The Buck in the Snow Quiz

1 Which best describes the speaker?

The speaker is unidentified

The speaker is a baby deer

The speaker is an aging hunter

The speaker is a lightly veiled version of the poet
2 How does the buck die?

From disease

From hunters

The cause of the death is never stated

From the cold
3 Which sound creates alliteration in the phrase "Under the heavy hemlocks"?

N

M

V

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

Intimate friendship

Curious observation

Tentative interaction

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

A feather

Tears

A bomb

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

Herself

The snow

The doe

The sky
7 When was this poem published?

1918

1928

1945

1933
8 What is a buck?

A baby deer

A deer without antlers

A female deer

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

letting fall a feather of snow

I saw them suddenly go

into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.

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

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Renascance

Second April

The Buck in the Snow
11 Which detail may allude to the story of the garden of Eden?

The wall

The snow

The hemlocks

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

Haiku

It does not follow a traditional poetic form

Sonnet

Ode
13 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

ABBA BBCC ABCBA

AAAAA A BACDAA

AAAAA B CCCCC

ABABAB CDCDCD
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 type of deer

A heavy lock used in barns

A poisonous plant

A conifer tree
16 How does Millay emphasize the contrast between the buck's blood and the snow?

By using assonance

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

By using the word "scalding"

By juxtaposing their red and white colors
17 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?

Death

Racism

Nature

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

The coming of death

The effects of climate change

The winter cold

Nature's indifference
19 What can the blood be said to symbolize?

War

Life

Ancestry

Guilt
20 What types of stanza appear in this work?

Two quintets and a couplet

An octave and a sestet

A quintet, a monostich, and a sestet

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

Nature's power over humanity

The abundance of summer

The world of human society

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

By altering the rhyme scheme

By making it unclear whether he is alive

By placing it in a separate line

By using an exclamation point
23 Alliterative S sounds in the phrase "I saw them. I saw them suddenly go" communicate which of the following?

The speaker's secrecy

The deers' inability to speak clearly

The rushing of water outside

A sense of speed and movement
24 Who is the poem's antagonist?

Death

The buck

The speaker

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

Reflective

Furious

Contemplative

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…