What Were They Like? Quizzes

What Were They Like? Quiz

1 Who is the "They" in "What Were They Like?"
The people of Vietnam

American soldiers

The farmers of Laos

Any victim of war
2 What is described as "stone" in the poem?
Lanterns

Ornaments

Walls

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

The Vietnam War

World War II

The Holocaust
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
Regular people

Peasants

Farmers

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

Frivolity

Ornaments

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

Jade mirrors

Lanterns

The horrors of war
8 In the poem, do the Vietnamese have an epic poem?
They had a religious epic

They had an epic poem about war

They had an epic poem about the arrival of spring

No one knows
9 "Moths in moonlight" describe
Vietnamese proverbs

Vietnamese insects

Vietnamese war planes

Vietnamese songs
10 Who is called "sir" in the poem?
The American soldier

The respondent

The questioner

The Vietnamese old man
11 What is NOT one of the main meaning of "buds" in the poem?
Spring

Reproduction

Children

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

"A dream ago"

"Perhaps"

"It is not remembered"
13 Which is Denise Levertov's other famous anti-war poem?
"Wichita Vortex Sutra"

"Life at War"

"If We Must Die"

"First Encounter"
14 With which school of poetry is Denise Levertov NOT associated?
New York School

Modernism

Black Mountain

New American Poetry
15 The poem's setting is
a Vietnamese village

an American base

a bomb shelter

unnamed
16 The tone of the second stanza can be described as
Elegaic

Enthusiastic

Formal

Impassionate
17 Which is NOT a major theme in the poem?
The cost of war

The importance of protecting cultures

The common humanity of all people

The viciousness of American soldiers
18 Hearts turned to stone is an example of a
Allegory

Metonymy

Motif

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

Times of celebration

Joy

Rich people
20 The questioner wants to know whether the Vietnamese distinguished between speech and
Singing

Epic poetry

Whispers

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

The laughed loudly and joyfully

Perhaps before the war

They were very serious
22 "Moths in moonlight" is an example of
Metaphor

Alliteration

Rhyme

Motif
23 The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to
1982

1968

1975

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

Allen Ginsberg

Jack Kerouac

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

Free verse

Epic verse

Projective 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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