The Widow’s Lament in Springtime Quizzes

The Widow's Lament in Springtime Quiz

1 When was the poem published?
1931

1964

1921

1912
2 How long is the poem?
15 lines

29 lines

32 lines

25 lines
3 What is the main theme of the poem?
Natural beauty

Loss

Rebirth

Coping
4 Where is the poem set?
In a meadow

In the speaker's backyard

In a forest

In a field of flowers
5 Who is the speaker?
A man who has lost his father

A recently widowed woman

A dying man

A plum tree
6 Why does springtime make the speaker feel sadness?
Because she didn't have time to plant her garden

Because she prefers autumn

Because it reminds her of her husband

Because she gets terrible allergies
7 What is the tone of the poem?
Mournful and elegiac

Cynical and sarcastic

Dull and monotone

Upbeat and cheery
8 Which of the following is NOT an image in the poem?
White flowers

Grass

Plum tree

An apple orchard
9 What is the poem's form?
Sonnet

Rhyme royal

Haiku

Free verse
10 Which of the following lines contains alliteration?
"flames as it has flamed"

"The plumtree is white today"

"I lived with my husband."

"at the edge of the heavy woods"
11 Which movement was Williams associated with?
Impressionism

Romanticism

Imagism

Surrealism
12 What is the poem's genre?
War epic

Ekphrastic poetry

Love sonnet

Nature poetry
13 When does the climax occur?
When the speaker talks to to her son

When the speaker imagines collapsing into white flowers

When the speaker remembers her husband

When the speaker sees the blossoming tree in her yard
14 In "The morns are meeker than they were," what season did Emily Dickinson recontextualize?
Summer

Autumn

Spring

Winter
15 Which of the following lines contains foreshadowing?
"and fall into those flowers"

"The plumtree is white today"

"load the cherry branches"

"Sorrow is my own yard"
16 Which season is William Shakespeare reframing in Sonnet 98?
Winter

Autumn

Spring

Summer
17 Which technique does Williams use throughout the poem?
Anaphora

Extended metaphor

Enjambment

Unconventional capitalization
18 Which theatrical construct is the poem trying to imitate?
Stichomythia

Monologue

Soliloquy

Chorus
19 What do the white flowers at the end of the poem symbolize?
The speaker's grief

The memories of the speaker's happy marriage

The speaker's acceptance of circumstance

The grace of nature
20 Why does Williams choose to set a poem about death in springtime?
To show spring's hidden sadness

To show how loss changes the meaning of images and events

To show how spring is falsely framed in Victorian poetry

To parallel spring with winter
21 What was Williams's style typically characterized as?
Dense

Indulgent

Flowery

Direct
22 How long was the speaker married?
Thirty-five years

Five years

Fifteen years

Twenty-five years
23 Who told the speaker about the white flowers in the meadow?
The speaker's mother

The speaker's son

The speaker's neighbor

The speaker's husband
24 What does the speaker imagine doing at the end of the poem?
Falling into a soft bed of white flowers

Chopping down her plum tree

Mowing the lawn

Going to a meadow with her husband
25 What does the word "marsh" mean?
A swamp with alligators

The shore of a beach

A preserve for birdwatching

A muddy wetland

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Study Guide for The Widow’s Lament in Springtime

The Widow's Lament in Springtime study guide contains a biography of William Carlos Williams, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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