The Buck in the Snow Quizzes

The Buck in the Snow Quiz

1 Which best describes the speaker?
The speaker is a lightly veiled version of the poet

The speaker is unidentified

The speaker is a baby deer

The speaker is an aging hunter
2 How does the buck die?
From the cold

From hunters

The cause of the death is never stated

From disease
3 Which sound creates alliteration in the phrase "Under the heavy hemlocks"?
V

H

M

N
4 Which best describes the speaker's relationship to the buck?
Tentative interaction

Intimate friendship

Curious observation

Violent pursuit
5 Millay uses a simile to compare falling snow to which of the following?
Blood

Tears

A bomb

A feather
6 Who does the speaker address in the poem's opening lines?
The snow

The doe

Herself

The sky
7 When was this poem published?
1933

1928

1945

1918
8 What is a buck?
A male deer

A female deer

A deer without antlers

A baby deer
9 Which of the following lines includes personification?
letting fall a feather of snow

I saw them suddenly go

How strange a thing is death

into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.
10 Which collection was this poem originally a part of?
The Buck in the Snow

Renascance

Second April

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver
11 Which detail may allude to the story of the garden of Eden?
The hemlocks

The snow

The apple trees

The wall
12 What is the poem's form?
It does not follow a traditional poetic form

Haiku

Ode

Sonnet
13 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA BBCC ABCBA

AAAAA A BACDAA

ABABAB CDCDCD

AAAAA B CCCCC
14 What is the most prominent effect of the poem's repeated long O end rhymes?
Emphasis on the similar-sounding word "doe"

A quizzical tone

A firm, opinionated tone

A ghostly, mournful mood
15 Which best defines the word "hemlock" as used in this poem?
A type of deer

A poisonous plant

A heavy lock used in barns

A conifer tree
16 How does Millay emphasize the contrast between the buck's blood and the snow?
By using the word "scalding"

By juxtaposing their red and white colors

By using assonance

By placing the words "blood" and "snow" in two different lines
17 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?
Death

Racism

Nature

Human/Animal interactions
18 Which of the following does the "white sky" NOT suggest?
Nature's indifference

The effects of climate change

The coming of death

The winter cold
19 What can the blood be said to symbolize?
Life

War

Ancestry

Guilt
20 What types of stanza appear in this work?
A quintet, a monostich, and a sestet

Two quintets and a couplet

Two quintains and two couplets

An octave and a sestet
21 What does the orchard symbolize?
Nature's power over humanity

The speaker's creativity

The abundance of summer

The world of human society
22 How does Millay dramatize the revelation of the buck's death?
By altering the rhyme scheme

By using an exclamation point

By placing it in a separate line

By making it unclear whether he is alive
23 Alliterative S sounds in the phrase "I saw them. I saw them suddenly go" communicate which of the following?
The deers' inability to speak clearly

The rushing of water outside

A sense of speed and movement

The speaker's secrecy
24 Who is the poem's antagonist?
The buck

The speaker

Death

The doe
25 Which of the following does NOT describe the poem's tone?
Reflective

Contemplative

Philosophical

Furious

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The Buck in the Snow study guide contains a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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