What Were They Like? Quizzes

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What Were They Like? Quiz

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

The people of Vietnam

Any victim of war

The farmers of Laos

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

Walls

Lanterns

Paths

Ornaments
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

The Holocaust

World War II

The Vietnam War

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

Farmers

Regular people

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

The horrors of war

Jade mirrors

Lanterns

Rice paddies
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 songs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese proverbs

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

The questioner

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

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

Children

Reproduction

Spring

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

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"

"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"
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?

New American Poetry

New York School

Modernism

Black Mountain
15 The poem's setting is

a bomb shelter

an American base

unnamed

a Vietnamese village
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as

Elegaic

Enthusiastic

Impassionate

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

The viciousness of American soldiers

The importance of protecting cultures

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a

Allegory

Metaphor

Metonymy

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

Joy

Times of celebration

Rich people

Peace
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and

Epic poetry

Screams

Singing

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

Perhaps before the war

They preferred to sing

The laughed loudly and joyfully

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

Rhyme

Alliteration

Metaphor

Motif
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1982

1975

1967

1968
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

Projective verse

Epic verse

Organic 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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