Evening Quizzes

1 What are H.D.'s early poems known for? Their...

unusual euphony

strong hyperbole

latent sarcasm

clear imagery
2 When did H.D. publish her collection The Usual Star?

1950

1926

1947

1934
3 How many years after H.D.'s poems were first published was her first collection published?

2

7

10

3
4 To whom was she briefly engaged, but did not marry?

T.S. Eliot

Robert Frost

Ezra Pound

William Carlos Williams
5 Who did Richard Aldington have an affair with?

Winifred Ellerman

Gertrude Stein

Elizabeth Bishop

Dorothy York
6 How does H.D. first describe the hepaticas in "Evening"?

wide-spread

shadowed

blue

petaled
7 Why does the light "pass" in "Evening"?

Because the sun is setting

Because the speaker is descending a mountain

Because the speaker is reaching old age

Because the sun goes behind a cloud
8 What happens to the petals of the hepaticas in "Evening"?

They reach inward

They expand outward

They fall away

They turn purple
9 What do "blue tips" refer to in "Evening"?

the roots of the hepaticas

the tip of the hepatica petals

the peak of the mountain ridges

the cornel-buds
10 What is the "bluer heart" in "Evening"?

The melancholy of the speaker

The center of the hepatica

The heart of the blue ridge mountains

The central river running through the two ridges
11 What might "and the flowers are lost" represent on a symbolic level in "Evening"?

the evening represents the winter soon to strip the mountain of flowers

oblivion, inwardness, loss of clarity, the unconscious

the sun cannot find the hepaticas that blend into the blue mountain

the flowers all blend together and individuality dissipates
12 What gives the reader a hint that "Evening" is a poem of transition?

It is clear the speaker wants to change, and is thinking among the hepaticas she describes

Flower poems are always about transition, because of the seasons

Words like "passes," "grow," "toward," "reach," "bend," and "seeks"

The unusual commas and dashes sprinkled throughout
13 What might be symbolized by the line "the petals reach inward," in the poem "Evening"?

The petals reaching for the pollen to nourish themselves

The shrinking of flowers in the cold

The loneliness of the petals, which seek contact

A shift of focus to internal life
14 What is the immediate effect of the lines "from ridge to ridge, / from flower to flower—" in "Evening"?

The reader observes that the speaker must be walking

There is an undertone of sadness

The repetition imitates the repetition in nursery rhymes

The lines evoke a vast expanse of ridges and flowers
15 What kind of voice does the phrase "are lost" exemplify in "Evening"?

Second person

Passive voice

Active voice

Omnipotent narrator
16 Why must the speaker note that the "cornel-buds are still white" in "Evening"?

Because night is coming and their lightness will fade

Because only young cornel-buds are white

Because the blue hepaticas create a bluish shadow

Because cornel-buds change color in late summer
17 What do the words "dart," "creeps," "cut," and "seeks" evoke symbolically in "Evening"?

Underneath all of the flowers there are many insects that demand recognition

Although at the surface there are sharp movements, the natural world is at peace in its cycles

The fading light creates a scene of occult shadow and mystery amidst a magnetic pull toward oblivion

Doom is impending, and even the leaves, grass, and flowers begin to lose hope
18 Given H.D.'s interest in psychoanalysis, what might "shadow" refer to in the second stanza of "Evening"?

The destruction that sometimes occurs in nature

The Oedipus Complex

The violence in our hearts

What is hidden in the unconscious mind
19 What is a visual and conceptual theme in the poem "Evening"?

The trauma of death for a family during the war

The cowardice of those who keep secrets

The minutiae of the individual amidst a shared expanse

The way gender affects one's view of everything, even light and color
20 What words are repeated most in the poem "Evening"?

Dart, seeks, bud, toward

Roots, leaf, lost, shadow

Light, flower, hepatica, grow

Black, petals, night, ridge
21 What could the increasing darkness and loss of light and visibility symbolize in the poem "Evening"?

The loss of clarity or understanding in the mind when a memory fades or the mind represses thoughts and feelings

The fact that the world is becoming dimmer over time, and humanity is losing its ability to remain enlightened

The mystery of the natural world, and how the more we seek to understand it, the more it will elude us

The depression one often feels when alone, especially in nature, realizing that we will all eventually fade away
22 What, on a literal level, does the speaker refer to with the phrase "bluer heart" in the poem "Evening"?

The sad wilt of the flower at night

The pull of fate in the natural world

The blue of the darkening sky that makes flowers look blue

The darker blue on the inside of a shadowy hepatica flower
23 What does the speaker mean by the phrase "cornel-root" in the poem "Evening"?

The root of the hepaticas, which are actually white at their core

The root of the "cornel" flowers, most likely white flowers of the dogwood family

Vine-like white roots below the soil that emerge at night for air

The corner of the flower petals
24 When was the poem "Evening" written?

1933

1917

1916

1944
25 How does the passive phrase "are lost" affect the last line of the poem "Evening"?

The phrase is accusatory, evoking an underlying bitterness

The phrase suggests a process is occurring that is somehow inevitable, and acts upon us

The phrase insinuates a kind of the naivety intrinsic to every living thing

The phrase shows how even good poets like H.D. can be sloppy with their grammar

Evening

by H. D.

Evening Quiz

Evening Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Evening