Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

1 Which of the following does NOT characterize Thomas Hardy's writing?

The difficulties of life

The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Disillusionment

Country folkways
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?

Current day South England

Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Ancient Southwestern England
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?

1898

1912

1879

1900
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?

Robert Frost

George Eliot

Philip Larkin

W.H. Auden
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?

After breaking up with his ex-partner, the speaker maintains a facade of passivity that does not quite manage to conceal his bitterness.

The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?

She has blue eyes.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.

She suffered more than the speaker did.
8 Define "rove."

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(noun) a secret place in a forest
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?

lucky

auspicious

futuristic

threatening
10 In which season is the poem set?

Spring

Summer

Unspecified

Winter
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?

The Optimism of Love

The Persistence of Memories

The Facade of Neutrality

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?

curses

conceals

chides

casts
13 What does God do to the white sun in the fourth stanza?

hides

chides

curses

celebrates
14 What does the starving sod represent?

The ground of the speaker's relationship to his ex is sterile, as is the speaker's capacity for new love.

The lower-class people of Wessex suffered more than the upper-class.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Cycles, rest, and family

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Death, hibernation, and endings
16 What is revealed in the first line?

The ex-lover's smile

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The ending of the relationship

The speaker's angry bitterness
17 Define "keen."

(adjective) neutral

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) disengenuous

(noun) a heartfelt cry
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

The poem does not rhyme

ABCD

ABBA

AABB
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?

None

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?

A crow coming home to roost

A blackbird singing in a tree

A raven arriving at one's doorstep

An ominous bird taking flight
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?

Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.
22 What is polysyndeton?

A kind of metaphor

A literary device in which one word refers in part to another

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?

Winter

The ex-partner's smile

The white sun

The yellow sun
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?

"And the sun was white, as though chidden of God"

"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove / Over tedious riddles of years ago"

"The change was like the knell"

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?

Evangelical Christian

Agnostic, but complexly so

Spiritualistic

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

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Study Guide for Neutral Tones

Neutral Tones study guide contains a biography of Thomas Hardy, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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