What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
The people of Vietnam

The farmers of Laos

Any victim of war

American soldiers
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?
Future tense

Past tense

Present tense

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

Peasants

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

The horrors of war

Lanterns

Rice paddies
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
No one knows

They had a religious epic

They had an epic poem about war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese proverbs

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

The respondent

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Spring

Agriculture

Children

Reproduction
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"It is not remembered"

"Perhaps"

"It is silent now"

"A dream ago"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"If We Must Die"

"Life at War"

"First Encounter"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
New York School

New American Poetry

Modernism

Black Mountain
15 The poem's setting is
unnamed

a bomb shelter

an American base

a Vietnamese village
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 importance of protecting cultures

The viciousness of American soldiers

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

Metonymy

Motif

Metaphor
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Times of celebration

Peace

Rich people

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

Epic poetry

Screams

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

The laughed loudly and joyfully

They preferred to sing

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

Motif

Metaphor

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1982

1975

1968

1967
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
George Sassoon

Allen Ginsberg

Jack Kerouac

Anne Carson
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Epic verse

Projective verse

Free verse

Organic 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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