What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

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

The people of Vietnam

The farmers of Laos

Any victim of war

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

Lanterns

Paths

Ornaments

Walls
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

The Holocaust

The Korean War

World War II

The Vietnam War
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

Farmers

Peasants

Regular people

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

Ornaments

Luxury

Jewelry

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

Rice paddies

Lanterns

Jade mirrors

The horrors of war
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had an epic poem about war

No one knows

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

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese insects

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

The respondent

The Vietnamese old man

The questioner

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

Agriculture

Children

Spring

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

"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"

"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?

"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"

"First Encounter"

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

Black Mountain

New American Poetry

New York School

Modernism
15 The poem's setting is

a Vietnamese village

an American base

unnamed

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

Formal

Impassionate

Elegaic

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

The importance of protecting cultures

The cost of war

The viciousness of American soldiers

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

Metaphor

Motif

Metonymy

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

Rich people

Joy

Peace

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

Screams

Epic poetry

Singing

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

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They were very serious

They preferred to sing

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

Motif

Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1975

1982

1968

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

George Sassoon

Allen Ginsberg

Anne Carson

Jack Kerouac
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as

Free verse

Epic verse

Projective 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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