What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
American soldiers

Any victim of war

The farmers of Laos

The people of Vietnam
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Lanterns

Walls

Paths

Ornaments
3 The poem was written about which historical event?
The Korean War

The Vietnam War

The Holocaust

World War II
4 Which tense does the poem mostly use?
Future tense

Past tense

Present tense

Past perfect tense
5 The Vietnamese people described in the poem are
Peasants

Farmers

Regular people

All of the above
6 Bone, ivory, jade, and silver are given as examples of
Ornaments

Jewelry

Luxury

Frivolity
7 What is compared to a "mirror" in the poem
Rice paddies

Jade mirrors

The horrors of war

Lanterns
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
They had an epic poem about war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows

They had a religious epic
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese songs

Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese insects
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The respondent

The Vietnamese old man

The American soldier

The questioner
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Agriculture

Spring

Reproduction

Children
12 Which is NOT an example of uncertainty in the poem?
"It is silent now"

"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"

"A dream ago"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"If We Must Die"

"First Encounter"

"Life at War"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
New American Poetry

New York School

Black Mountain

Modernism
15 The poem's setting is
an American base

unnamed

a bomb shelter

a Vietnamese village
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Formal

Impassionate

Enthusiastic

Elegaic
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The viciousness of American soldiers

The common humanity of all people

The importance of protecting cultures

The cost of war
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Metaphor

Motif

Metonymy

Allegory
19 Finish the line: "Ornament is for ..."
Peace

Joy

Rich people

Times of celebration
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Whispers

Epic poetry

Singing

Screams
21 Were the Vietnamese "inclined to quiet laughter?"
They preferred to sing

They were very serious

The laughed loudly and joyfully

Perhaps before the war
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Motif

Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1975

1982

1968

1967
24 Who was another major poet who wrote poems against the war in Vietnam?
Allen Ginsberg

Anne Carson

Jack Kerouac

George Sassoon
25 Levertov referred to her poetic form as
Projective verse

Free verse

Epic verse

Organic verse

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What Were They Like? study guide contains a biography of Denise Levertov, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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