What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"

The farmers of Laos

The people of Vietnam

American soldiers

Any victim of war
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?

Ornaments

Lanterns

Walls

Paths
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

World War II

The Vietnam War

The Korean War

The Holocaust
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?

Past tense

Present tense

Future tense

Past perfect tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are

Farmers

Peasants

Regular people

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

Luxury

Jewelry

Ornaments

Frivolity
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?

They had an epic poem about war

They had a religious epic

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese songs

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

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

The respondent

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

Agriculture

Children

Spring

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

"It is silent now"

"Perhaps"

"A dream ago"

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

"If We Must Die"

"First Encounter"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"Life at War"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?

New American Poetry

Black Mountain

Modernism

New York School
15 The poem's setting is

a Vietnamese village

an American base

a bomb shelter

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

Formal

Elegaic

Impassionate

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

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war

The viciousness of American soldiers

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 ..."

Joy

Times of celebration

Rich people

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

Screams

Epic poetry

Whispers

Singing
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"

They preferred to sing

Perhaps before the war

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They were very serious
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of

Rhyme

Motif

Alliteration

Metaphor
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?

George Sassoon

Allen Ginsberg

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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