What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
American soldiers

Any victim of war

The farmers of Laos

The people of Vietnam
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Walls

Ornaments

Lanterns

Paths
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
The Korean War

World War II

The Vietnam War

The Holocaust
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?
Future tense

Present tense

Past tense

Past perfect tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are
Peasants

Farmers

Regular people

All of the above
6 Bone, ivory, jade, and silver are given as examples of
Luxury

Jewelry

Frivolity

Ornaments
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
Jade mirrors

Lanterns

Rice paddies

The horrors of war
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
They had a religious epic

They had an epic poem about war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese songs
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The American soldier

The questioner

The Vietnamese old man

The respondent
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Children

Reproduction

Spring

Agriculture
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"Perhaps"

"It is silent now"

"It is not remembered"

"A dream ago"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"Life at War"

"If We Must Die"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"First Encounter"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
Black Mountain

New York School

New American Poetry

Modernism
15 The poem's setting is
a Vietnamese village

an American base

a bomb shelter

unnamed
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Formal

Enthusiastic

Impassionate

Elegaic
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The common humanity of all people

The cost of war

The importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Motif

Metonymy

Allegory

Metaphor
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Joy

Peace

Rich people

Times of celebration
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Screams

Whispers

Epic poetry

Singing
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
They preferred to sing

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They were very serious

Perhaps before the war
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Motif

Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1967

1968

1982

1975
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
George Sassoon

Jack Kerouac

Anne Carson

Allen Ginsberg
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Epic verse

Projective verse

Free verse

Organic verse

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Study Guide for What Were They Like?

What Were They Like? study guide contains a biography of Denise Levertov, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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