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

2. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?
(a) Sneaky and dishonest.
(b) Strange and eccentric.
(c) Arrogant and proud.
(d) Mean-spirited and petty.

3. What is the primary quality that the speaker's stanza eight description of a body of water is intended to convey?
(a) Independence.
(b) Power.
(c) Persistence.
(d) Endurance.

4. What technique is used in lines 7 and 8, "’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room"?
(a) Personification.
(b) Juxtaposition.
(c) Simile.
(d) Metaphor.

5. What words create a refrain in the final two stanzas of the poem?
(a) "I rise."
(b) "Again I rise."
(c) "I rise and rise."
(d) "Still I rise."

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does the speaker say she obtained her gifts?

2. What technique does the first line of the poem, "You may write me down in history," introduce?

3. Which is the first stanza of the poem that is longer than four lines?

4. What technique is used in line 29, "Out of the huts of history’s shame"?

5. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?

(see the answer key)

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