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?

Lanterns

Ornaments

Paths

Walls
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

World War II

The Holocaust

The Vietnam War

The Korean War
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?

Past tense

Past perfect tense

Present tense

Future tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are

Regular people

Peasants

Farmers

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

Ornaments

Jewelry

Frivolity

Luxury
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem

Lanterns

The horrors of war

Rice paddies

Jade mirrors
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows

They had a religious epic

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

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?

The American soldier

The respondent

The questioner

The Vietnamese old man
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?

Children

Spring

Reproduction

Agriculture
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?

"It is not remembered"

"Perhaps"

"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"Life at War"

"First Encounter"

"If We Must Die"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?

Black Mountain

Modernism

New American Poetry

New York School
15 The poem's setting is

an American base

a Vietnamese village

a bomb shelter

unnamed
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as

Enthusiastic

Elegaic

Impassionate

Formal
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?

The importance of protecting cultures

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war

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

Allegory

Metonymy

Metaphor

Motif
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."

Times of celebration

Peace

Rich people

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

Epic poetry

Singing

Screams

Whispers
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

Rhyme

Metaphor

Motif

Alliteration
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1968

1982

1967

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

Allen Ginsberg

George Sassoon

Anne Carson

Jack Kerouac
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as

Organic verse

Free verse

Projective verse

Epic 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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