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

Any victim of war

American soldiers
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 Holocaust

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

Past tense

Future tense

Past perfect tense

Present tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are

Regular people

Farmers

Peasants

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

Jewelry

Luxury

Frivolity

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

Lanterns

Rice paddies

Jade mirrors

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 the arrival of spring

They had an epic poem about war
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 questioner

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

Agriculture

Reproduction

Spring

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

"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"

"It is not remembered"

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

"Life at War"

"If We Must Die"

"First Encounter"

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

New American Poetry

Black Mountain

New York School

Modernism
15 The poem's setting is

unnamed

a bomb shelter

a Vietnamese village

an American base
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as

Elegaic

Impassionate

Enthusiastic

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

The importance of protecting cultures

The cost of war

The common humanity of all people

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

Motif

Metonymy

Allegory

Metaphor
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

Whispers

Epic poetry

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

The laughed loudly and joyfully

Perhaps before the war

They preferred to sing

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

Rhyme

Motif

Alliteration

Metaphor
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1982

1975

1968

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

Anne Carson

Allen Ginsberg

Jack Kerouac

George Sassoon
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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