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

Country folkways

Disillusionment

The difficulties of life
2 What does "Wessex" refer to?
Current day South England

Ancient Southwestern England

Hardy's town of origin

Hardy's fictional literary landscape
3 When was Wessex Poems and Other Verses published?
1900

1912

1898

1879
4 Which writer has NOT named Hardy as an influence?
W.H. Auden

Robert Frost

Philip Larkin

George Eliot
5 What does the title "Neutral Tones" refer to?
The neutral imagery and mood in the poem

The speaker's true sense of passivity

The ex-lover's quiet and thoughtful nature

The speaker's preference for a muted palette
6 Which best characterizes the speaker?
The speaker has read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven."

The speaker is finally able to heal from his past relationship and embark on a new one.

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 suffered more than his partner as a result of the relationship.
7 What is true about the speaker's partner?
She suffered more than the speaker did.

She has blue eyes.

She refers to Thomas Hardy's first wife.

She left a devastating impression on the speaker as a result of the break-up.
8 Define "rove."
(noun) a secret place in a forest

(verb) travel constantly without a fixed destination; wander

(verb) attempt to plant in starving sod

(noun) a grouping of ash trees
9 What could be another word for "ominous"?
lucky

auspicious

futuristic

threatening
10 In which season is the poem set?
Unspecified

Winter

Spring

Summer
11 Which is NOT a theme in the poem?
The Facade of Neutrality

The Persistence of Memories

Love, Loss, and Disillusionment

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

conceals

casts

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

chides

hides

celebrates
14 What does the starving sod represent?
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.

The lower-class people of Wessex suffered more than the upper-class.
15 What does winter symbolize in the poem?
Cookies, Santa, and celebration

Slowness, tidiness, and introspection

Cycles, rest, and family

Death, hibernation, and endings
16 What is revealed in the first line?
The setting and the facade of neutrality

The speaker's angry bitterness

The ex-lover's smile

The ending of the relationship
17 Define "keen."
(adjective) sharp and well-defined

(noun) a heartfelt cry

(adjective) neutral

(adjective) disengenuous
18 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
The poem does not rhyme

ABBA

ABCD

AABB
19 What is the rhyme scheme reminiscent of?
The poetry of Alfred Tennyson

The first octave of Petrarchan sonnets

None

The final quatrain of Shakespearean sonnets
20 What does the speaker compare his ex-partner's bitter grin to?
A raven arriving at one's doorstep

A blackbird singing in a tree

An ominous bird taking flight

A crow coming home to roost
21 What is the speaker's final perspective on love?
Love is incorrect, unjust, and immoral.

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.
22 What is polysyndeton?
The bleak despair that demonstrates the speaker's outlook

A kind of metaphor

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

The purposeful repetition of conjunctions in close succession for emphasis
23 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
The yellow sun

Winter

The ex-partner's smile

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

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

"The change was like the knell"

"Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove / Over tedious riddles of years ago"
25 Which best describes Hardy's religious views?
Spiritualistic

Agnostic, but complexly so

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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