What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

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

The farmers of Laos

American soldiers

Any victim of war

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

Lanterns

Ornaments

Walls

Paths
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

The Holocaust

World War II

The Vietnam War

The Korean War
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?

Past tense

Present tense

Future 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

Ornaments

Frivolity
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem

Rice paddies

Lanterns

The horrors of war

Jade mirrors
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

No one knows

They had a religious epic
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese proverbs
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

The respondent

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

Children

Reproduction

Agriculture

Spring
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?

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"Life at War"

"First Encounter"

"If We Must Die"
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 bomb shelter

an American base

a Vietnamese village

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

Elegaic

Impassionate

Enthusiastic

Formal
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?

The importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers

The cost of war

The common humanity of all people
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a

Allegory

Metonymy

Motif

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

Peace

Times of celebration

Rich people

Joy
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and

Singing

Epic poetry

Screams

Whispers
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"

They were very serious

They preferred to sing

The laughed loudly and joyfully

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

Metaphor

Rhyme

Motif

Alliteration
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1975

1968

1982

1967
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

Organic verse

Epic verse

Projective verse

Free 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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