What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
Any victim of war

American soldiers

The people of Vietnam

The farmers of Laos
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Paths

Lanterns

Ornaments

Walls
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
The Korean War

World War II

The Holocaust

The Vietnam War
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?
Past perfect tense

Past tense

Future tense

Present tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are
Peasants

Farmers

Regular people

All of the above
6 Bone, ivory, jade, and silver are given as examples of
Frivolity

Jewelry

Ornaments

Luxury
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
The horrors of war

Rice paddies

Lanterns

Jade mirrors
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
They had a religious epic

No one knows

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had an epic poem about war
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese songs
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

The questioner

The respondent
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Spring

Reproduction

Agriculture

Children
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"First Encounter"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
Modernism

New American Poetry

Black Mountain

New York School
15 The poem's setting is
a bomb shelter

unnamed

a Vietnamese village

an American base
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Elegaic

Enthusiastic

Formal

Impassionate
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The cost of war

The common humanity of all people

The importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Motif

Allegory

Metonymy

Metaphor
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Times of celebration

Peace

Joy

Rich people
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Singing

Whispers

Screams

Epic poetry
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
Perhaps before the war

They preferred to sing

They were very serious

The laughed loudly and joyfully
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Alliteration

Rhyme

Motif

Metaphor
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1982

1968

1967

1975
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
Anne Carson

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg

George Sassoon
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Free verse

Organic verse

Epic verse

Projective verse

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What Were They Like? study guide contains a biography of Denise Levertov, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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