The Widow’s Lament in Springtime Quizzes

The Widow's Lament in Springtime Quiz

1 When was the poem published?
1912

1921

1931

1964
2 How long is the poem?
29 lines

15 lines

25 lines

32 lines
3 What is the main theme of the poem?
Coping

Rebirth

Loss

Natural beauty
4 Where is the poem set?
In the speaker's backyard

In a forest

In a meadow

In a field of flowers
5 Who is the speaker?
A dying man

A plum tree

A recently widowed woman

A man who has lost his father
6 Why does springtime make the speaker feel sadness?
Because she gets terrible allergies

Because it reminds her of her husband

Because she didn't have time to plant her garden

Because she prefers autumn
7 What is the tone of the poem?
Upbeat and cheery

Cynical and sarcastic

Dull and monotone

Mournful and elegiac
8 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
An apple orchard

Grass

White flowers

Plum tree
9 What is the poem's form?
Haiku

Free verse

Sonnet

Rhyme royal
10 Which of the following lines contains alliteration?
"flames as it has flamed"

"at the edge of the heavy woods"

"The plumtree is white today"

"I lived with my husband."
11 Which movement was Williams associated with?
Romanticism

Imagism

Surrealism

Impressionism
12 What is the poem's genre?
Love sonnet

War epic

Nature poetry

Ekphrastic poetry
13 When does the climax occur?
When the speaker imagines collapsing into white flowers

When the speaker sees the blossoming tree in her yard

When the speaker remembers her husband

When the speaker talks to to her son
14 In "The morns are meeker than they were," what season did Emily Dickinson recontextualize?
Winter

Autumn

Spring

Summer
15 Which of the following lines contains foreshadowing?
"The plumtree is white today"

"Sorrow is my own yard"

"load the cherry branches"

"and fall into those flowers"
16 Which season is William Shakespeare reframing in Sonnet 98?
Summer

Winter

Autumn

Spring
17 Which technique does Williams use throughout the poem?
Unconventional capitalization

Anaphora

Enjambment

Extended metaphor
18 Which theatrical construct is the poem trying to imitate?
Monologue

Soliloquy

Chorus

Stichomythia
19 What do the white flowers at the end of the poem symbolize?
The memories of the speaker's happy marriage

The speaker's acceptance of circumstance

The grace of nature

The speaker's grief
20 Why does Williams choose to set a poem about death in springtime?
To show how loss changes the meaning of images and events

To show spring's hidden sadness

To show how spring is falsely framed in Victorian poetry

To parallel spring with winter
21 What was Williams's style typically characterized as?
Indulgent

Direct

Flowery

Dense
22 How long was the speaker married?
Thirty-five years

Five years

Twenty-five years

Fifteen years
23 Who told the speaker about the white flowers in the meadow?
The speaker's neighbor

The speaker's son

The speaker's mother

The speaker's husband
24 What does the speaker imagine doing at the end of the poem?
Going to a meadow with her husband

Falling into a soft bed of white flowers

Chopping down her plum tree

Mowing the lawn
25 What does the word "marsh" mean?
A preserve for birdwatching

The shore of a beach

A muddy wetland

A swamp with alligators

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Study Guide for The Widow’s Lament in Springtime

The Widow's Lament in Springtime study guide contains a biography of William Carlos Williams, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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