What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
The people of Vietnam

American soldiers

The farmers of Laos

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

Ornaments

Lanterns

Paths
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
The Korean War

World War II

The Holocaust

The Vietnam War
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?
Past tense

Past perfect tense

Present tense

Future tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are
Farmers

Regular people

Peasants

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

Jewelry

Frivolity

Luxury
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
Rice paddies

The horrors of war

Jade mirrors

Lanterns
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
No one knows

They had an epic poem about war

They had a religious epic

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

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese songs

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

The Vietnamese old man

The respondent

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

Spring

Children

Agriculture
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"It is not remembered"

"Perhaps"

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"If We Must Die"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"First Encounter"

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

Black Mountain

New American Poetry

Modernism
15 The poem's setting is
a bomb shelter

a Vietnamese village

unnamed

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

Enthusiastic

Formal

Elegaic
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The cost of war

The viciousness of American soldiers

The common humanity of all people

The importance of protecting cultures
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Allegory

Metonymy

Metaphor

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

Times of celebration

Peace

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

Singing

Screams

Whispers
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
The laughed loudly and joyfully

They preferred to sing

Perhaps before the war

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

1967

1968

1975
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
Jack Kerouac

George Sassoon

Anne Carson

Allen Ginsberg
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Epic verse

Projective verse

Free 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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