What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

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

Any victim of war

The people of Vietnam

American soldiers

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

Ornaments

Paths

Lanterns

Walls
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

World War II

The Holocaust

The Korean War

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

Present tense

Past tense

Past perfect tense

Future tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are

Regular people

Peasants

Farmers

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

Jewelry

Ornaments

Frivolity

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

Lanterns

Rice paddies

Jade mirrors

The horrors of war
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?

They had an epic poem about war

They had a religious epic

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese war planes
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?

Reproduction

Agriculture

Spring

Children
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?

"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"

"A dream ago"

"It is silent now"
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?

New York School

Modernism

New American Poetry

Black Mountain
15 The poem's setting is

a bomb shelter

a Vietnamese village

an American base

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

Impassionate

Formal

Enthusiastic

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

The importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a

Motif

Allegory

Metaphor

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

Peace

Joy

Times of celebration

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

Singing

Screams

Whispers

Epic poetry
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"

They were very serious

Perhaps before the war

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They preferred to sing
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of

Alliteration

Rhyme

Motif

Metaphor
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to

1967

1975

1968

1982
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?

George Sassoon

Anne Carson

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as

Organic verse

Free verse

Epic 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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