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?
Hardy's fictional literary landscape

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

Current day South England
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1900

1898

1879

1912
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
Philip Larkin

Robert Frost

George Eliot

W.H. Auden
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 neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

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

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

After breaking up with his ex-partner, the speaker maintains a facade of passivity that does not quite manage to conceal his bitterness.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?
She suffered more than the speaker did.

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.
8 Define "rove."
(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a secret place in a forest

(noun) a grouping of ash trees
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
auspicious

threatening

futuristic

lucky
10 In which season is the poem set?
Winter

Unspecified

Summer

Spring
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Facade of Neutrality

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Persistence of Memories

The Optimism of Love
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?
hides

chides

curses

celebrates
14 What does the starving sod represent?
The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.

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.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Cycles, rest, and family

Death, hibernation, and endings

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The speaker's angry bitterness

The ending of the relationship

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The ex-lover's smile
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) neutral

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) disengenuous
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCD

AABB

The poem does not rhyme

ABBA
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

None

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

An ominous bird taking flight

A blackbird singing in a tree

A raven arriving at one's doorstep
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

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

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

A kind of metaphor

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

The white sun

The yellow sun

Winter
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?
"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove / Over tedious riddles of years ago"

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

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

"The change was like the knell"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Evangelical Christian

Spiritualistic

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

Agnostic, but complexly so

Neutral Tones Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Neutral Tones is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for Neutral Tones…