What Were They Like? Quizzes

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What Were They Like? Quiz

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

American soldiers

The people of Vietnam

Any victim of war

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

Walls

Lanterns

Paths

Ornaments
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

The Korean War

World War II

The Vietnam War

The Holocaust
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?

Present tense

Past tense

Past perfect tense

Future 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

Ornaments

Frivolity

Jewelry

Luxury
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 war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had a religious epic
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese proverbs

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

The respondent

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

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

Reproduction

Children

Spring

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

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"

"It is not remembered"

"Perhaps"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?

"First Encounter"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"Life at War"

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

New York School

New American Poetry

Modernism

Black Mountain
15 The poem's setting is

a bomb shelter

unnamed

an American base

a Vietnamese village
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as

Elegaic

Impassionate

Formal

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

The importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers

The cost of war

The common humanity of all people
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a

Metaphor

Metonymy

Allegory

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

Peace

Times of celebration

Rich people

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

Screams

Singing

Epic poetry

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

They preferred to sing

The laughed loudly and joyfully

Perhaps before the war

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

Metaphor

Motif

Alliteration

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1975

1968

1982

1967
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg

Anne Carson

George Sassoon
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as

Projective verse

Free verse

Organic 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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