What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
Any victim of war

The people of Vietnam

The farmers of Laos

American soldiers
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Lanterns

Paths

Ornaments

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 perfect tense

Future tense

Past 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

Frivolity

Luxury

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

The horrors of war

Rice paddies

Lanterns
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 an epic poem about war

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

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese proverbs

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

The respondent

The American soldier

The Vietnamese old man
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 not remembered"

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"

"Perhaps"
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?
Modernism

Black Mountain

New York School

New American Poetry
15 The poem's setting is
a Vietnamese village

unnamed

an American base

a bomb shelter
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Enthusiastic

Impassionate

Elegaic

Formal
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
Motif

Metaphor

Metonymy

Allegory
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Times of celebration

Peace

Joy

Rich people
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Epic poetry

Whispers

Singing

Screams
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
Perhaps before the war

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They were very serious

They preferred to sing
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Rhyme

Metaphor

Alliteration

Motif
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1967

1975

1982

1968
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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