Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

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

The difficulties of life

Country folkways

Disillusionment

The optimistic view that God will save humanity
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?

Current day South England

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?

1900

1912

1879

1898
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?

Robert Frost

W.H. Auden

Philip Larkin

George Eliot
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.

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

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

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

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

threatening

auspicious

lucky

futuristic
10 In which season is the poem set?

Summer

Unspecified

Spring

Winter
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?

The Facade of Neutrality

The Persistence of Memories

The Optimism of Love

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

casts

chides

curses

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

curses

celebrates

chides

hides
14 What does the starving sod represent?

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.

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

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

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

Cycles, rest, and family

Death, hibernation, and endings

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection
16 What is revealed in the first line?

The ending of the relationship

The speaker's angry bitterness

The ex-lover's smile

The setting and the facade of neutrality
17 Define "keen."

(adjective) disengenuous

(adjective) neutral

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) sharp and well-defined
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?

The poem does not rhyme

AABB

ABCD

ABBA
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

None

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?

An ominous bird taking flight

A crow coming home to roost

A blackbird singing in a tree

A raven arriving at one's doorstep
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

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

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis

The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook

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

A kind of metaphor
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?

Winter

The yellow sun

The white sun

The ex-partner's smile
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"

"The change was like the knell"

"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"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Evangelical Christian

Spiritualistic

Agnostic, but complexly so

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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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