Quiz

Neutral Tones

Thomas Hardy

1. 1. What season and setting open the poem?

   A summer meadow at middayA wintry day beside a pondAn autumn forest at duskA spring garden after rain

2. 2. The sun is described as 'white, as though chidden of God.' What does the word 'chidden' most nearly mean?

   Blessed and glorifiedHidden behind cloudsScolded or rebukedWarmed by divine light

3. 3. What is the rhyme scheme of each stanza in 'Neutral Tones'?

   ABAB throughoutABBA throughoutAABB throughoutABCB throughout

4. 4. To what does Hardy compare the speaker's lover's eyes in the second stanza?

   Eyes watching a distant storm approachEyes gazing at a beloved landscapeEyes that rove over solved riddlesEyes closed in deep concentration

5. 5. What effect does Hardy achieve by repeatedly using gray, white, and pale imagery throughout the poem?

   He creates a mood of tranquil pastoral beautyHe reinforces a tone of emotional deadness and despairHe signals the speaker's hope for romantic renewalHe evokes nostalgia for a joyful shared past

6. 6. In the third stanza, the lover's smile is called 'the deadest thing / Alive enough to have strength to die.' This is an example of which poetic technique?

   SimileApostropheOxymoronAnaphora

7. 7. What does 'an ominous bird a-wing' function as in the poem?

   A literal description of a crow disturbed by the coupleA metaphor for the grin of bitterness sweeping across her faceA symbol of God's displeasure with the relationshipAn allusion to Keats's nightingale as a symbol of joy

8. 8. What is the primary theme of 'Neutral Tones'?

   The healing power of nature after heartbreakThe way a single painful moment of lost love becomes a permanent mental imageThe cruelty of social conventions that separate loversThe redemptive nature of memory and nostalgia

9. 9. The final stanza shifts the poem's perspective. What structural purpose does this shift serve?

   It introduces a new character who witnessed the sceneIt frames the earlier memory as a lesson now understood in hindsightIt contradicts the pessimism of the preceding stanzasIt addresses God directly about the nature of love

10. 10. Which word in the poem is used to describe the sod, and what does it suggest about the natural world?

    'Frozen,' suggesting the landscape is literally icebound'Barren,' suggesting the soil has never supported life'Starving,' suggesting the earth itself is depleted and suffering'Cursed,' suggesting divine punishment falls on the land
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