What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
Any victim of war

American soldiers

The people of Vietnam

The farmers of Laos
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Lanterns

Ornaments

Paths

Walls
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
The Holocaust

The Korean War

World War II

The Vietnam War
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?
Future tense

Past perfect tense

Present tense

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

Regular people

Farmers

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

Frivolity

Ornaments

Jewelry
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
Lanterns

The horrors of war

Jade mirrors

Rice paddies
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
They had an epic poem about war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had a religious epic

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

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese insects
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The questioner

The American soldier

The respondent

The Vietnamese old man
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Reproduction

Children

Spring

Agriculture
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"A dream ago"

"It is not remembered"

"It is silent now"

"Perhaps"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"First Encounter"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
Modernism

New York School

Black Mountain

New American Poetry
15 The poem's setting is
unnamed

a bomb shelter

a Vietnamese village

an American base
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Impassionate

Elegaic

Formal

Enthusiastic
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
Allegory

Metaphor

Motif

Metonymy
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Peace

Rich people

Joy

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

Whispers

Singing

Screams
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
Perhaps before the war

They preferred to sing

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They were very serious
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Metaphor

Rhyme

Alliteration

Motif
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1982

1968

1967

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

George Sassoon

Anne Carson

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

Organic verse

Free verse

Projective verse

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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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