What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
The farmers of Laos

Any victim of war

The people of Vietnam

American soldiers
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 Vietnam War

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

Present tense

Future tense

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

Regular people

Farmers

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
Lanterns

Jade mirrors

Rice paddies

The horrors of war
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 war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese proverbs

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

The questioner

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier
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?
"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"

"Perhaps"

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

"First Encounter"

"If We Must Die"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
Modernism

Black Mountain

New American Poetry

New York School
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
Formal

Enthusiastic

Impassionate

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

The importance of protecting cultures

The cost of war

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

Metonymy

Motif

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

Peace

Joy

Times of celebration
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Whispers

Epic poetry

Screams

Singing
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
They were very serious

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They preferred to sing

Perhaps before the war
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Rhyme

Alliteration

Motif

Metaphor
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1968

1975

1967

1982
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
Allen Ginsberg

Anne Carson

George Sassoon

Jack Kerouac
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Projective verse

Free verse

Epic verse

Organic 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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