What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

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

American soldiers

The farmers of Laos

The people of Vietnam
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Ornaments

Paths

Walls

Lanterns
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
World War II

The Vietnam War

The Korean War

The Holocaust
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
Peasants

Regular people

Farmers

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

Ornaments

Jewelry

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

Jade mirrors

Lanterns

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

They had a religious epic

No one knows
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese war planes

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

The American soldier

The respondent

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

Agriculture

Spring

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

"Perhaps"

"A dream ago"

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

"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"

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

Modernism

New American Poetry

New York School
15 The poem's setting is
a bomb shelter

unnamed

an American base

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

Enthusiastic

Impassionate

Elegaic
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
Allegory

Motif

Metonymy

Metaphor
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
Whispers

Screams

Singing

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

They were very serious

The laughed loudly and joyfully

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

Rhyme

Metaphor

Alliteration
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1968

1982

1975

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

George Sassoon

Allen Ginsberg

Anne Carson
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Free verse

Epic verse

Projective verse

Organic verse

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Study Guide for What Were They Like?

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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