View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "Still I Rise," Lines 1 - 43 .

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which two things does the final stanza use to represent the past and present?
(a) Night and daybreak.
(b) Gathering clouds and rain.
(c) The directions east and west.
(d) A seed and a sprout.

2. What kind of "certainty" does the speaker claim to have in line 10?
(a) The "certainty of springtime."
(b) The "certainty of tides."
(c) The "certainty of air."
(d) The "certainty of history."

3. What body of water does the speaker claim to be in the eighth stanza?
(a) A river.
(b) An ocean.
(c) A stream.
(d) A lake.

4. Which is the best definition for "trod" in the context of line 3?
(a) The sound of footsteps.
(b) Throw or hurl downward.
(c) Press down with the foot.
(d) Drag along the floor or earth.

5. In the final quatrain, what does the speaker wonder about upsetting "you" with?
(a) Beauty.
(b) Sexiness.
(c) Intelligence.
(d) Kindness.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the fourth stanza, what kind of person does the speaker ask if "you" want her to be?

2. What is the primary quality that the speaker's stanza eight description of a body of water is intended to convey?

3. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?

4. Why is the speaker's past "rooted in pain" (line 32)?

5. What is the rhyme scheme of the first seven stanzas?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 259 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample