The Buck in the Snow Quizzes

The Buck in the Snow Quiz

1 Which best describes the speaker?
The speaker is an aging hunter

The speaker is a baby deer

The speaker is unidentified

The speaker is a lightly veiled version of the poet
2 How does the buck die?
From hunters

The cause of the death is never stated

From disease

From the cold
3 Which sound creates alliteration in the phrase "Under the heavy hemlocks"?
N

H

V

M
4 Which best describes the speaker's relationship to the buck?
Intimate friendship

Curious observation

Tentative interaction

Violent pursuit
5 Millay uses a simile to compare falling snow to which of the following?
Blood

Tears

A bomb

A feather
6 Who does the speaker address in the poem's opening lines?
The doe

The snow

Herself

The sky
7 When was this poem published?
1928

1918

1933

1945
8 What is a buck?
A female deer

A baby deer

A male deer

A deer without antlers
9 Which of the following lines includes personification?
into the wood of hemlocks bowed with snow.

letting fall a feather of snow

I saw them suddenly go

How strange a thing is death
10 Which collection was this poem originally a part of?
Second April

The Buck in the Snow

The Ballad of the Harp Weaver

Renascance
11 Which detail may allude to the story of the garden of Eden?
The snow

The wall

The apple trees

The hemlocks
12 What is the poem's form?
Sonnet

It does not follow a traditional poetic form

Ode

Haiku
13 What is the poem's rhyme scheme?
ABBA BBCC ABCBA

AAAAA A BACDAA

ABABAB CDCDCD

AAAAA B CCCCC
14 What is the most prominent effect of the poem's repeated long O end rhymes?
A firm, opinionated tone

A ghostly, mournful mood

A quizzical tone

Emphasis on the similar-sounding word "doe"
15 Which best defines the word "hemlock" as used in this poem?
A poisonous plant

A heavy lock used in barns

A conifer tree

A type of deer
16 How does Millay emphasize the contrast between the buck's blood and the snow?
By juxtaposing their red and white colors

By using assonance

By using the word "scalding"

By placing the words "blood" and "snow" in two different lines
17 Which is NOT a major theme of this poem?
Human/Animal interactions

Nature

Death

Racism
18 Which of the following does the "white sky" NOT suggest?
The coming of death

The winter cold

Nature's indifference

The effects of climate change
19 What can the blood be said to symbolize?
Life

Ancestry

Guilt

War
20 What types of stanza appear in this work?
Two quintets and a couplet

A quintet, a monostich, and a sestet

Two quintains and two couplets

An octave and a sestet
21 What does the orchard symbolize?
Nature's power over humanity

The speaker's creativity

The world of human society

The abundance of summer
22 How does Millay dramatize the revelation of the buck's death?
By placing it in a separate line

By altering the rhyme scheme

By making it unclear whether he is alive

By using an exclamation point
23 Alliterative S sounds in the phrase "I saw them. I saw them suddenly go" communicate which of the following?
A sense of speed and movement

The rushing of water outside

The deers' inability to speak clearly

The speaker's secrecy
24 Who is the poem's antagonist?
The buck

The doe

Death

The speaker
25 Which of the following does NOT describe the poem's tone?
Contemplative

Furious

Philosophical

Reflective

The Buck in the Snow Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Buck in the Snow is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Buck in the Snow

The Buck in the Snow study guide contains a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Buck in the Snow…