Incident (Trethewey Poem) Quizzes

Incident (Trethewey Poem) Quiz

1 When was the poem published?
2000

2001

2006

2015
2 What word best describes the poem's tone?
Dark and eerie

Distant and removed

Warm and direct

Earnest and simple
3 Which of the following is NOT a poem by Trethewey?
Parker's Mood

Native Guard

Incident

Myth
4 What kind of story does the mood of the poem imitate?
A ghost story

A love song

A sea shanty

A heroic ballad
5 What does the poem depict?
A major holiday

A murder in the woods

A family's home being burned down

Members of the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross
6 What prize did Trethewey receive for the collection that "Incident" was included in?
A Golden Globe

The Pulitzer Prize

The National Book Award

The Bollingen Prize
7 What form does the poem utilize?
Villanelle

Haiku

Pantoum

Sonnet
8 Where was Trethewey born?
Montreal, Canada

Richmond, Virginia

Austin, Texas

Gulfport, Mississippi
9 What is the structure of a pantoum?
Six lines with an ABBACC rhyme scheme

Two lines of five syllables and one line of seven syllables

The second and fourth lines of a stanza are reused as the first and third lines of the next stanza

Ten lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, followed by a rhyming couplet
10 Where is the poem set?
In the woods

In Birmingham, Alabama

In Little Rock, Arkansas

In a small town at night, likely in the South
11 What is the title of the collection the poem was originally included in?
Domestic Work

Native Guard

Thrall

Monument
12 What pronoun does the speaker use to refer to themselves?
She

They

I

We
13 Which of the following lines contains assonance?
"at the cross trussed like a Christmas tree,"

"It seemed the angels had gathered, white men in their gowns."

"we darkened our rooms, lit the hurricane lamps."

"We tell the story every year—"
14 What does the speaker compare the Klan members to?
Demons

Loose flames

Angels

Beasts
15 Which of the following lines is an example of personification?
"the charred grass still green."

"Nothing really happened."

"The wicks trembled all night in their fonts of oil;"

"By morning all the flames had dimmed."
16 What is a "hurricane lamp"?
A flashlight

A specially designed lightbulb

An oil lantern

A candle
17 Why does the speaker use the word "trembling" to describe the wick of the hurricane lamp?
Because the fire wasn't burning brightly

Because it suggests the fear they felt in that moment

Because the men outside were afraid

Because it rhymes with the next line
18 Which of the following is an important symbol in the poem?
The moon

Rivers

Flames

The trees
19 When does the climax of the poem occur?
When the men are shown around the cross

When the speaker retells the story

When the speaker peers out the window

The morning after the cross burning
20 Who are the antagonists of the poem?
The members of the Klan

The governor

A disembodied force

The other townspeople
21 What is the meaning of the word "charred"?
Shining brightly

Crunched

Grilled

Burnt and blackened
22 Which of the following is NOT a theme of the poem?
Repression

Love

Storytelling

Fear
23 What is depicted in the poem "Myth"?
The story of Icarus

The story of Orpheus

The story of Iphigenia

The story of Hades
24 What is the genre of the poem?
Pastiche

Ekphrasis

Historical poetry

Victorian poetry
25 What is foreshadowed in the poem's opening lines?
That the speaker's family is close

That the speaker is nosy

That the speaker witnessed something troubling

That the speaker is bad at telling stories

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Study Guide for Incident (Trethewey Poem)

Incident (Trethewey Poem) study guide contains a biography of Natasha Trethewey, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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