The Idea of Order at Key West Quizzes

The Idea of Order at Key West Quiz

By Rebecca Bedell · Last reviewed August 21, 2017

1 What is the primary sense evoked throughout the poem?

Smell

Hearing

Sight

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

Anchoring his fishing boat

Looking at the town

Listening with his friend

Walking alongside her
3 What literary device is Stevens using when describing the sea's "voice"?

Foreshadowing

Personification

Irony

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

They are blended together

They are separate, not mixed

They sound the exact same

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

Critic

Antagonist

Creator

Audience
6 To what role is Ramon Fernandez most comparable?

Musician

Inferior poet

Master craftsman

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

vast

inspiring

mysterious

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

from chaotic to organized

from silent to harmonious

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

melody

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

the wind

the birds

the thunder

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

the coral

the woman herself

the horizon

the crashing waves
12 Which of the following is the most likely meaning of "body wholly body"?

completely alive

motionless and dead

physical form and nothing else

physically present, in the moment
13 What does the woman 'measure to the hour'?

the sea's rage

the night's beauty

the wind's emptiness

the sky's solitude
14 What does the speaker say about the world the woman inhabits while singing?

She inhabits a world created by her singing

She inhabits the world created by the poem

She enters the world of the sea

She inhabits no world but the real one
15 What is the speaker searching for when he writes: we "knew / That we should ask this often as she sang"?

A way to understand the sea

The dark voice of the sea

The meaning of the woman's words

The spirit responsible for the song
16 What does the speaker say the voice of the sky would be, without any human component?

Full of meaning

Empty air

Orderly

Beautiful beyond measure
17 What are "heaped on high horizons"?

glassy lights

fragrant portals

bronze shadows

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

Support his claims about the woman's genius

Explain who the woman was

Explain why the lights appeared the way they did

Help him write a poem about the experience
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 anger felt by poets at their inability to write

Nature's constant motion towards simplicity and order

The human urge to create systems of meaning

The woman's fragile emotional state
21 What do the final phrases "ghostlier demarcations" and "keener sounds" refer to?

The sea at night

The shadows on the horizon

Ramon Fernandez' confusion

Artists' words
22 What was Wallace Stevens' connection to Key West?

He lived there

None; he imagined it

He had read other poems about it

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

No rhyme

Intricate, consistent rhyme scheme

Occasional sporadic rhymes

Couplets ending each stanza
24 What is a somewhat hopeful message that the poem might have for artists?

They do not need nature to be inspired

They should never listen to critics

Their artwork is going to last forever

Their creations can reshape the world
25 And who is vitally important to the impact of an artistic creation, as suggested by the poem?

The Muses

The audience

The literary establishment

The friends of the artist

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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.

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