The Widow’s Lament in Springtime Quizzes

The Widow's Lament in Springtime Quiz

1 When was the poem published?
1931

1964

1921

1912
2 How long is the poem?
29 lines

25 lines

15 lines

32 lines
3 What is the main theme of the poem?
Natural beauty

Rebirth

Loss

Coping
4 Where is the poem set?
In a forest

In a meadow

In a field of flowers

In the speaker's backyard
5 Who is the speaker?
A plum tree

A recently widowed woman

A dying man

A man who has lost his father
6 Why does springtime make the speaker feel sadness?
Because she gets terrible allergies

Because it reminds her of her husband

Because she prefers autumn

Because she didn't have time to plant her garden
7 What is the tone of the poem?
Mournful and elegiac

Upbeat and cheery

Dull and monotone

Cynical and sarcastic
8 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
White flowers

Grass

Plum tree

An apple orchard
9 What is the poem's form?
Rhyme royal

Sonnet

Haiku

Free verse
10 Which of the following lines contains alliteration?
"The plumtree is white today"

"at the edge of the heavy woods"

"I lived with my husband."

"flames as it has flamed"
11 Which movement was Williams associated with?
Impressionism

Surrealism

Romanticism

Imagism
12 What is the poem's genre?
War epic

Love sonnet

Nature poetry

Ekphrastic poetry
13 When does the climax occur?
When the speaker sees the blossoming tree in her yard

When the speaker imagines collapsing into white flowers

When the speaker talks to to her son

When the speaker remembers her husband
14 In "The morns are meeker than they were," what season did Emily Dickinson recontextualize?
Winter

Spring

Summer

Autumn
15 Which of the following lines contains foreshadowing?
"The plumtree is white today"

"Sorrow is my own yard"

"load the cherry branches"

"and fall into those flowers"
16 Which season is William Shakespeare reframing in Sonnet 98?
Spring

Autumn

Winter

Summer
17 Which technique does Williams use throughout the poem?
Unconventional capitalization

Anaphora

Extended metaphor

Enjambment
18 Which theatrical construct is the poem trying to imitate?
Chorus

Stichomythia

Soliloquy

Monologue
19 What do the white flowers at the end of the poem symbolize?
The speaker's grief

The grace of nature

The speaker's acceptance of circumstance

The memories of the speaker's happy marriage
20 Why does Williams choose to set a poem about death in springtime?
To parallel spring with winter

To show spring's hidden sadness

To show how loss changes the meaning of images and events

To show how spring is falsely framed in Victorian poetry
21 What was Williams's style typically characterized as?
Flowery

Dense

Indulgent

Direct
22 How long was the speaker married?
Five years

Twenty-five years

Fifteen years

Thirty-five years
23 Who told the speaker about the white flowers in the meadow?
The speaker's husband

The speaker's son

The speaker's mother

The speaker's neighbor
24 What does the speaker imagine doing at the end of the poem?
Mowing the lawn

Going to a meadow with her husband

Chopping down her plum tree

Falling into a soft bed of white flowers
25 What does the word "marsh" mean?
The shore of a beach

A swamp with alligators

A muddy wetland

A preserve for birdwatching

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Study Guide for The Widow’s Lament in Springtime

The Widow's Lament in Springtime study guide contains a biography of William Carlos Williams, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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