The Buck in the Snow Quizzes

The Buck in the Snow Quiz

1 Which best describes the speaker?
The speaker is an aging hunter

The speaker is unidentified

The speaker is a baby deer

The speaker is a lightly veiled version of the poet
2 How does the buck die?
From the cold

From disease

The cause of the death is never stated

From hunters
3 Which sound creates alliteration in the phrase "Under the heavy hemlocks"?
H

N

M

V
4 Which best describes the speaker's relationship to the buck?
Violent pursuit

Curious observation

Tentative interaction

Intimate friendship
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 sky

Herself

The doe
7 When was this poem published?
1933

1945

1918

1928
8 What is a buck?
A female deer

A deer without antlers

A baby deer

A male deer
9 Which of the following lines includes personification?
I saw them suddenly go

letting fall a feather of snow

into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.

How strange a thing is death
10 Which collection was this poem originally a part of?
Renascance

The Buck in the Snow

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Second April
11 Which detail may allude to the story of the garden of Eden?
The apple trees

The snow

The hemlocks

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

Ode

Sonnet

Haiku
13 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABABAB CDCDCD

AAAAA A BACDAA

ABBA BBCC ABCBA

AAAAA B CCCCC
14 What is the most prominent effect of the poem's repeated long O end rhymes?
A ghostly, mournful mood

A firm, opinionated tone

A quizzical tone

Emphasis on the similar-sounding word "doe"
15 Which best defines the word "hemlock" as used in this poem?
A poisonous plant

A heavy lock used in barns

A conifer tree

A type of deer
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 placing the words "blood" and "snow" in two different lines

By using assonance
17 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?
Nature

Racism

Human/Animal interactions

Death
18 Which of the following does the "white sky" NOT suggest?
The winter cold

Nature's indifference

The coming of death

The effects of climate change
19 What can the blood be said to symbolize?
Life

Ancestry

War

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?
The world of human society

Nature's power over humanity

The speaker's creativity

The abundance of summer
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 rushing of water outside

The deers' inability to speak clearly

The speaker's secrecy

A sense of speed and movement
24 Who is the poem's antagonist?
Death

The buck

The doe

The speaker
25 Which of the following does NOT describe the poem's tone?
Furious

Philosophical

Reflective

Contemplative

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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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