The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Quizzes

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Quiz

1 What does the word "surfeit" mean?
Large dinner party

Complaint

Excess

Charter or agreement
2 Which best characterizes this poem?
It makes heavy use of figurative language

It focuses on the psyche of the speaker

It follows an elaborate, complex formal structure

It embraces moral ambiguity, leaving readers unsure who to root for
3 Which best describes the poem's speaker?
A journalist bearing witness to the dictator's cruelty

A dictator

An unidentified, omniscient third-person speaker

An unidentified, limited first-person speaker
4 Where are the poem's first several lines set?
A sugarcane field

A coffee shop

A military hospital

A schoolbuilding
5 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABCBAADCD

It has no rhyme scheme

AABAABABA

ABBACDDCABBACDDC
6 What is the dictator's palace compared to?
A dog's mouth

A teapot

A watch face

A diamond ring
7 Who is the translator of the version discussed in this guide?
Mark Eisner

Pablo Neruda

Ben Belitt

W.S. Merwin
8 Neruda compares the palace-dwellers to "wineglasses, _____, and piping."
Collars

Gemstones

Drumbeats

Chocolates
9 What is the poem's meter?
It is free verse

Anapestic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic trimeter
10 What does the word "finical" mean?
Picky

Shiny

Erudite

Multifaceted
11 Which of the following does the poem sharply critique?
Adult cruelty to children

Industrialization

Religious extremism

Fascism and authoritarianism
12 How many lines are in this poem?
17

14

10

15
13 Which of the following phrases does NOT contain alliteration?
"the plant and its pollen"

"The snout filled with silence and slime"

"carrion, blood, and a nausea"

"the blinded, big leaves"
14 Which of the following are juxtaposed?
Laughter and death

The snout and the bones

The dictator and his allies

The plant and the pollen
15 What does the word "satrap" mean?
A grand palace

A type of trap used to catch mice and rats

An exclusive, government-sponsored club

A subordinate ruler or official
16 Which type of sensory imagery is prominent in the poem's opening lines?
Tactile imagery

Sound imagery

Smell imagery

Taste imagery
17 What does the plant most likely symbolize?
The power of the arts

Life under dictatorship

God's abandonment

The refuge of nature
18 Which is NOT one of the poem's themes?
Death

Inequality

Gender

Evil and oppression
19 Which of the following is an instance of hyperbole?
"A finical satrap conversed"

"Vendetta was born"

"their festering surfeit of bones"

"Lament was perpetual"
20 Which of the following serve as a synecdochic representation in the poem?
A glove

A petal

A plant

A mouth
21 What does the word "carrion" mean?
A type of bird of prey

A battle cry

A brand of gun popular in fascist Spain

Decaying dead bodies
22 Neruda uses a simile to compare which of the following to a flower petal?
A military medal

The smell of corpses

A flag

A gunshot wound
23 In which era is this poem most likely set?
The mid-twentieth century

The early Medieval period

The late eighteenth century

The 1970s
24 How does Neruda depict authoritarians?
As zealous and obsessive

As sadistic and monstrous

As vulnerable and frightened

As frivolous and willfully blind
25 What does the word "bludgeon" mean?
Physical blow

Broken-down vehicle

Toolbox

Blunt person

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Dictators (Neruda Poem) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Dictators (Neruda Poem)

The Dictators (Neruda Poem) study guide contains a biography of Pablo Neruda, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Dictators (Neruda Poem)…