What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
The people of Vietnam

Any victim of war

American soldiers

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

Walls

Lanterns

Paths
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?
Present tense

Future tense

Past perfect tense

Past 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
Luxury

Ornaments

Frivolity

Jewelry
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
Rice paddies

Lanterns

The horrors of war

Jade mirrors
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
No one knows

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had a religious epic

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

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese insects
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The questioner

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

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

Spring

Agriculture

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

"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"

"It is not remembered"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"

"First Encounter"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
New York School

Modernism

Black Mountain

New American Poetry
15 The poem's setting is
an American base

unnamed

a Vietnamese village

a bomb shelter
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Elegaic

Formal

Enthusiastic

Impassionate
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The viciousness of American soldiers

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war

The importance of protecting cultures
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Metaphor

Allegory

Motif

Metonymy
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Rich people

Joy

Times of celebration

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

Screams

Epic poetry

Whispers
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
They preferred to sing

They were very serious

Perhaps before the war

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

Alliteration

Motif

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1982

1967

1968

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

Jack Kerouac

George Sassoon

Allen Ginsberg
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Epic verse

Organic verse

Projective verse

Free 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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