The Idea of Order at Key West Quizzes

The Idea of Order at Key West Quiz

1 What is the primary sense evoked throughout the poem?

Hearing

Smell

Touch

Sight
2 What is the speaker doing while the woman sings?

Listening with his friend

Looking at the town

Walking alongside her

Anchoring his fishing boat
3 What literary device is Stevens using when describing the sea's "voice"?

Irony

Metonymy

Personification

Foreshadowing
4 How are the woman's song and the sound of the water described in relation to each other?

They sound the exact same

They are blended together

They are separate, not mixed

They are clashing with each other
5 What word best describes the role of the woman?

Critic

Audience

Creator

Antagonist
6 To what role is Ramon Fernandez most comparable?

Master craftsman

Inferior poet

Literary critic

Musician
7 Which of the following is NOT a suitable adjective to describe the sea in this poem?

vast

onmipotent

inspiring

mysterious
8 In the speaker's mind, what transformation does the sea undergo from the poem's beginning to its end?

from silent to harmonious

from chaotic to organized

from weak to powerful

from ugly to beautiful
9 Which of the following does the speaker name as an important component of the woman's song, that the sea does not have?

passion

volume

words

melody
10 Other than the water, what component of nature does the speaker definitely listen to?

the thunder

the birds

the trees

the wind
11 What sight becomes more poignant or "acute" under the influence of the woman's song?

the crashing waves

the horizon

the coral

the woman herself
12 Which of the following is the most likely meaning of "body wholly body"?

physical form and nothing else

completely alive

physically present, in the moment

motionless and dead
13 What does the woman 'measure to the hour'?

the wind's emptiness

the sky's solitude

the night's beauty

the sea's rage
14 What does the speaker say about the world the woman inhabits while singing?

She inhabits no world but the real one

She inhabits a world created by her singing

She enters the world of the sea

She inhabits the world created by the poem
15 What is the speaker searching for when he writes: we "knew / That we should ask this often as she sang"?

The meaning of the woman's words

The spirit responsible for the song

The dark voice of the sea

A way to understand the sea
16 What does the speaker say the voice of the sky would be, without any human component?

Beautiful beyond measure

Full of meaning

Empty air

Orderly
17 What are "heaped on high horizons"?

bronze shadows

glassy lights

fragrant portals

mountainous atmospheres
18 What does the speaker ask Ramon Fernandez to do?

Help him write a poem about the experience

Explain why the lights appeared the way they did

Support his claims about the woman's genius

Explain who the woman was
19 What is a possible explanation for why Fernandez does not respond?

He was not as moved by the woman as the speaker was

The speaker does not ask loudly enough to be heard

He is still listening to the song

The experience is transcendent and beyond commentary
20 What does the phrase "blessed rage for order" most likely mean?

The woman's fragile emotional state

Nature's constant motion towards simplicity and order

The human urge to create systems of meaning

The anger felt by poets at their inability to write
21 What do the final phrases "ghostlier demarcations" and "keener sounds" refer to?

Artists' words

Ramon Fernandez' confusion

The sea at night

The shadows on the horizon
22 What was Wallace Stevens' connection to Key West?

He had read other poems about it

None; he imagined it

He lived there

He vacationed there
23 How would you describe Stevens' use of rhyme in this poem?

Couplets ending each stanza

Occasional sporadic rhymes

Intricate, consistent rhyme scheme

No rhyme
24 What is a somewhat hopeful message that the poem might have for artists?

Their artwork is going to last forever

Their creations can reshape the world

They do not need nature to be inspired

They should never listen to critics
25 And who is vitally important to the impact of an artistic creation, as suggested by the poem?

The friends of the artist

The audience

The Muses

The literary establishment

The Idea of Order at Key West Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Idea of Order at Key West is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Idea of Order at Key West

Ideas of Order at Key West study guide contains a biography of Wallace Stevens, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Idea of Order at Key West…