Neutral Tones Quizzes

Neutral Tones Quiz

1 Which of the following does NOT characterize Thomas Hardy's writing?
The optimistic view that God will save humanity

Disillusionment

Country folkways

The difficulties of life
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?
Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

Current day South England

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1879

1898

1912

1900
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
Philip Larkin

George Eliot

W.H. Auden

Robert Frost
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?
The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The speaker's preference for a muted palette

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The neutral imagery and mood in the poem
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.

After breaking up with his ex-partner, the speaker maintains a facade of passivity that does not quite manage to conceal his bitterness.

The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?
She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.

She has blue eyes.

She suffered more than the speaker did.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.
8 Define "rove."
(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(noun) a grouping of ash trees

(noun) a secret place in a forest
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
lucky

auspicious

futuristic

threatening
10 In which season is the poem set?
Winter

Unspecified

Summer

Spring
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Persistence of Memories

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

The Facade of Neutrality

The Optimism of Love
12 What does God do to the white sun in the first stanza?
conceals

casts

chides

curses
13 What does God do to the white sun in the fourth stanza?
hides

celebrates

curses

chides
14 What does the starving sod represent?
The lower-class people of Wessex suffered more than the upper-class.

The speaker is starving as a result of the break-up.

The ground of the speaker's relationship to his ex is sterile, as is the speaker's capacity for new love.

Humans don't know how to farm efficiently.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Death, hibernation, and endings

Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cycles, rest, and family
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The ending of the relationship

The setting and the facade of neutrality

The ex-lover's smile

The speaker's angry bitterness
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) neutral

(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(adjective) disengenuous

(noun) a heartfelt cry
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA

The poem does not rhyme

ABCD

AABB
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets

None
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?
An ominous bird taking flight

A crow coming home to roost

A blackbird singing in a tree

A raven arriving at one's doorstep
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love requires great sacrifice in order to receive its rewards.

Love is cruel but it pays off.

Love is capable of harm, but one must choose to risk one's heart.

Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.
22 What is polysyndeton?
The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook

A literary device in which one word refers in part to another

A kind of metaphor

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
The ex-partner's smile

Winter

The white sun

The yellow sun
24 Which is NOT a simile in the poem?
"And the sun was white, as though chidden of God"

"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove / Over tedious riddles of years ago"

"And a grin of bitterness swept thereby / Like an ominous bird a-wing"

"The change was like the knell"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Agnostic, but complexly so

Spiritualistic

Evangelical Christian

Devout atheist who refuses to discuss God

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Study Guide for Neutral Tones

Neutral Tones study guide contains a biography of Thomas Hardy, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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