The Listeners Quizzes

The Listeners Quiz

1 Which of these best describes the role of the Traveller in the poem?
A symbolic figure

A cautionary tale

A stand-in for the speaker

A foil for the listeners
2 What physical and biographical details do we get about the Traveller?
He has grey eyes

He's tall, blonde, and probably Nordic

He's come a long way and appears tired

He's been searching for the listeners for years
3 How are we told the listeners "answer" to the Traveller?
None

With inarticulate sounds

With their "stillness"

They order him to leave
4 Why does the Traveller leave?
His horse "whinnies and cries"

He decides that he's accomplished his goal

He feels "their strangeness"

He hears shouts "clamoring in the distance"
5 To what literary tradition does "The Listeners" belong?
Surrealist poetry

Impressionist poetry

Modernist poetry

Georgian poetry
6 Which of the following statements about the meter of "The Listeners" is true?
There is no meter

The meter alternates with the rhyme

The poem falls generally into iambic pentameter

It employs classic metrical patterns
7 In his personal life, Walter de la Mare
Was troubled and often very depressed

Led a relatively stable, conventional life

Led an entirely reclusive life and abhorred publicity

Was a reckless bohemian in his youth, later a family man
8 Walter de la Mare was well-versed in and influenced by
The works of his modernist contemporaries such as T.S. Eliot

Teutonic and classical mythology

Ancient Chinese poetry

Greek and Roman philosophy, especially stoicism
9 The tone of "The Listeners" is best described as
Terrifying

Eerie and unsettling

Revolting

Chaotic and absurd
10 The titular "listeners" are
Ambiguously ghostly beings

An imagined group of the speaker's enemies

Angry spirits of the dead

Never described by the speaker
11 The Traveller is "the last man left ______"
Alive

Unafraid

Awake

Standing
12 Which of the following adjectives is not used to describe the natural world in the poem?
Starry

Leafy

Quiet

Cloudy
13 The speaker's use of "Ay" in line 33 is an instance of
Apostrophe

Assonance

Alliteration

Anaphora
14 The line "Of the forest's ferny floor" does not contain
Trochaic meter

Assonance

Onomatopoeia

Alliteration
15 _____ is associated heavily with silence in the poem
Doors

Windows

Moonlight

The Traveller's horse
16 The setting of "The Listeners" is
A crowded village

An isolated forest

A grassy knoll

A wooded mountainside
17 How many times does the Traveller knock on the listeners' door?
Five times

Twice

Three times

Once
18 What is the effect of the words "thronging" and "host" as used to describe the listeners?
Makes them seem inviting, if shy

Gives the impression of an ominous, homogeneous crowd

Demonstrates their dislike of the Traveller

Conveys their frustration at being unable to speak
19 In context, the word "turf" here means
Forest floor

Grass

Piles of leaves

Mossy rocks
20 The listeners reside in
A house large enough to have a turrett

A small cottage

An ominous, dilapidated building

A large castle surrounded by a moat
21 The phrase "But no one descended to the Traveller" can be paraphrased as
No one acknowledged his presence

He received no sign that there was anyone home

No one came down to greet him

Nobody spoke to him
22 The phrase "the silence surged softly backwards" is an example of
Metaphorical language

Onomatopoeia

Hyperbole

Personification
23 Besides "The Listeners," Walter de la Mare is best known for
His romantic-style paintings

His books of sonnetts

His re-writing of classic fables

His short horror fiction and writing for children
24 The Georgian Poets are
A group of poets characterized by their acute psychological portraits

A group of poets published in a series of anthologies by the same name

A group of poets characterized by their hatred of modernism

A group of poets who participated in the literary salons at Bloomsbury in London
25 In classical mythology, grey eyes signified
Wisdom

A mercurial nature

Bravery

Cowardice