The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Quizzes

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Quiz

1 What does the word "surfeit" mean?
Excess

Charter or agreement

Complaint

Large dinner party
2 Which best characterizes this poem?
It embraces moral ambiguity, leaving readers unsure who to root for

It follows an elaborate, complex formal structure

It makes heavy use of figurative language

It focuses on the psyche of the speaker
3 Which best describes the poem's speaker?
An unidentified, omniscient third-person speaker

A dictator

An unidentified, limited first-person speaker

A journalist bearing witness to the dictator's cruelty
4 Where are the poem's first several lines set?
A schoolbuilding

A military hospital

A sugarcane field

A coffee shop
5 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
AABAABABA

ABBACDDCABBACDDC

It has no rhyme scheme

ABCBAADCD
6 What is the dictator's palace compared to?
A teapot

A watch face

A dog's mouth

A diamond ring
7 Who is the translator of the version discussed in this guide?
Ben Belitt

Mark Eisner

W.S. Merwin

Pablo Neruda
8 Neruda compares the palace-dwellers to "wineglasses, _____, and piping."
Collars

Gemstones

Chocolates

Drumbeats
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Anapestic hexameter

Trochaic trimeter

It is free verse
10 What does the word "finical" mean?
Shiny

Multifaceted

Erudite

Picky
11 Which of the following does the poem sharply critique?
Adult cruelty to children

Industrialization

Religious extremism

Fascism and authoritarianism
12 How many lines are in this poem?
17

10

14

15
13 Which of the following phrases does NOT contain alliteration?
"carrion, blood, and a nausea"

"the blinded, big leaves"

"the plant and its pollen"

"The snout filled with silence and slime"
14 Which of the following are juxtaposed?
Laughter and death

The dictator and his allies

The plant and the pollen

The snout and the bones
15 What does the word "satrap" mean?
A subordinate ruler or official

A type of trap used to catch mice and rats

An exclusive, government-sponsored club

A grand palace
16 Which type of sensory imagery is prominent in the poem's opening lines?
Sound imagery

Smell imagery

Tactile imagery

Taste imagery
17 What does the plant most likely symbolize?
God's abandonment

Life under dictatorship

The power of the arts

The refuge of nature
18 Which is NOT one of the poem's themes?
Evil and oppression

Inequality

Death

Gender
19 Which of the following is an instance of hyperbole?
"their festering surfeit of bones"

"A finical satrap conversed"

"Vendetta was born"

"Lament was perpetual"
20 Which of the following serve as a synecdochic representation in the poem?
A petal

A plant

A glove

A mouth
21 What does the word "carrion" mean?
Decaying dead bodies

A brand of gun popular in fascist Spain

A battle cry

A type of bird of prey
22 Neruda uses a simile to compare which of the following to a flower petal?
The smell of corpses

A flag

A military medal

A gunshot wound
23 In which era is this poem most likely set?
The mid-twentieth century

The 1970s

The early Medieval period

The late eighteenth century
24 How does Neruda depict authoritarians?
As sadistic and monstrous

As zealous and obsessive

As vulnerable and frightened

As frivolous and willfully blind
25 What does the word "bludgeon" mean?
Blunt person

Physical blow

Broken-down vehicle

Toolbox

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Dictators (Neruda Poem) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Dictators (Neruda Poem)

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) study guide contains a biography of Pablo Neruda, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Dictators (Neruda Poem)…