SparkNotes: Frost's Early Poems: Review Quiz

What form does the poem "Mowing" take?

(A) It is a sestina

(B) It is a sonnet

(C) It is a villanelle

(D) It is in terza rima

In "The Road Not Taken," which of the two roads appears "less traveled" to the speaker?

(A) The one he takes

(B) The one he does not take

(C) Neither of the two

In "The Wood-Pile," the woodpile in question "warms the frozen swamp" with "the slow smokeless burning of...

(A) dry moss."

(B) decay."

(C) a greenhouse."

(D) neglect."

According to the speaker in "Mowing," what is "the sweetest dream that labor knows"?

(A) The fact

(B) Beauty

(C) Rest

(D) The truth

What does the wife see through the window at the beginning of "Home Burial"?

(A) Horsemen approaching

(B) The coroner's wagon

(C) Her child's grave

(D) Her husband returning

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is written in what meter?

(A) Iambic tetrameter

(B) Iambic pentameter

(C) Varied meter

(D) Gas meter

In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes that the speaker imagines his horse to think him strange. What might be the significance of this?

(A) Frost is implying that the speaker is insane

(B) The opinion of the horse could represent the opinion of society; the speaker recognizes that, in the eyes of his peers, his actions are unusual

(C) Frost is trying to imbue his otherwise somber poem with a bit of humor

(D) The talking horse suggests that animals, as representatives of the natural world, are wise and have important things to say to us

Complete the following line: "Something there is that doesn't love a

(A) duck."

(B) shirt."

(C) fence."

(D) wall."

What does the neighbor say in "Mending Wall"?

(A) "There goes the neighborhood."

(B) "Won't you be my neighbor?"

(C) "Good fences make good neighbors."

(D) "How's the wife and kids?"

At one point in "Mending Wall," the speaker describes his neighbor as:

(A) "an old-stone savage."

(B) "a tough old bird."

(C) "an ornamental frog."

(D) "a peg-legged manure man."

What does the speaker describe as "just another outdoor game" in the poem "Mending Wall"?

(A) Badminton

(B) Fixing the stone wall that marks the boundary between his and his neighbor's properties

(C) Rugby

(D) Hide-and-seek

In "Fire and Ice," the speaker contemplates whether the world will end in fire or ice; which wins out in his conclusion?

(A) Fire

(B) Ice

In the second part of "Fire and Ice," the speaker contemplates whether it would be preferable to die by fire, or by ice. Which does he conclude is the better death?

(A) Fire

(B) Ice

Robert Frost, the quintessential New England poet, spent his first eleven years in what place?

(A) Derry, Massachusetts

(B) Londonderry, New Hampshire

(C) London, England

(D) San Francisco, California

From which poem is the following line extracted? "Earth's the right place for love."

(A) "Mowing"

(B) "Birches"

(C) "The Earth and other Places for Love"

(D) "Desert Places"

What is the rhyme scheme of "After Apple-Picking"?

(A) ABAB BCBC CDCD, etc.

(B) ABBA CDDC DEED, etc.

(C) ABBA BCCB CDDC, etc.

(D) It has no fixed rhyme scheme

What is the rhyme scheme of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (excluding the last stanza)?

(A) AAAB BBBC, etc.

(B) AABA BBCB, etc.

(C) ABAB BCBC, etc.

(D) AAAA BBBB, etc.

In "The Wood-Pile," the speaker decides to continue walking in the woods. What animal does he then see?

(A) A bird

(B) A fox

(C) A deer

(D) A gnat

"'Three foggy mornings and one rainy day / Will rot the best birch fence a man can build.'" From which poem is this line extracted?

(A) "Mending Wall"

(B) "Home Burial"

(C) "Birches"

(D) "The Tuft of Flowers"

Finish this line from "Mowing": "Anything more than the truth would have seemed too...

(A) silly /"

(B) false /"

(C) perverse /"

(D) weak /"

"The Tuft of Flowers" is written in:

(A) heroic couplets

(B) fantastic doublets

(C) courageous triplets

(D) intrepid septets

How would you characterize the line lengths in "After Apple-Picking"?

(A) They follow a strict pattern

(B) They are the same throughout

(C) They vary considerably

(D) They are irrelevant to the poem

In New England, when do people generally pick apples?

(A) Winter

(B) Spring

(C) Summer

(D) Fall

What, according to the poem, is apple cider made from?

(A) Bad apples

(B) Fallen apples

(C) Lead

(D) Very small rocks

Why does the child's grave sit on the family's property (in "Home Burial")?

(A) The family lives in a municipal cemetery

(B) Family graveyards were common on New England farms

(C) The graveyard has been moved there by a developer

(D) The burial was cheaper that way