What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

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

American soldiers

The farmers of Laos

The people of Vietnam

Any victim of war
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?

Lanterns

Walls

Ornaments

Paths
3 The poem was written about which historical event?

The Vietnam War

World War II

The Holocaust

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

Present tense

Future tense

Past perfect tense

Past 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

Jewelry

Frivolity

Ornaments

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

Jade mirrors

The horrors of war

Lanterns

Rice paddies
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?

No one knows

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

They had an epic poem about war

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

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes

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

The respondent

The American soldier

The questioner

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

Spring

Reproduction

Children

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

"It is silent now"

"Perhaps"

"A dream ago"

"It is not remembered"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?

"First Encounter"

"Life at War"

"If We Must Die"

"Wichita Vortex Sutra"
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

unnamed

a Vietnamese village
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 viciousness of American soldiers

The common humanity of all people

The cost of war

The importance of protecting cultures
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a

Metonymy

Allegory

Metaphor

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

Times of celebration

Rich people

Peace

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

Epic poetry

Singing

Whispers

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

They were very serious

The laughed loudly and joyfully

Perhaps before the war

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

Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme

Motif
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?

Jack Kerouac

Allen Ginsberg

George Sassoon

Anne Carson
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as

Free verse

Projective verse

Organic verse

Epic 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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