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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What technique is used in line 21, "You may shoot me with your words"?
(a) Simile.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Innuendo.
(d) Kenning.

2. Where does the speaker say she obtained her gifts?
(a) From the passage of time.
(b) From effort and hard work.
(c) From her ancestors.
(d) From well-chosen friends.

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

4. Who is the author of "Still I Rise"?
(a) Toni Morrison.
(b) Maya Angelou.
(c) Alice Walker.
(d) Nikki Giovanni.

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

6. What precious stones does the speaker use to evoke beauty and value in the simile in line 27?
(a) Diamonds.
(b) Rubies.
(c) Sapphires.
(d) Emeralds.

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

8. In the fourth stanza, what kind of person does the speaker ask if "you" want her to be?
(a) Angry and afraid.
(b) Sad and meek.
(c) Tired and distracted.
(d) Distant and uninvolved.

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

10. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?
(a) Intelligent and curious.
(b) Brave and perseverent.
(c) Lighthearted and silly.
(d) Lively and confident.

11. Which is the most logical description of who "You" is in line 1?
(a) Scholars and critics.
(b) A romantic partner.
(c) People of the past.
(d) An unnamed oppressor.

12. Which technique is frequently used at the beginnings of stanzas?
(a) Cacophony.
(b) Internal rhyme.
(c) Rhetorical question.
(d) Onomatopoeia.

13. What technique does the first line of the poem, "You may write me down in history," introduce?
(a) Allegory.
(b) Verbal irony.
(c) Apostrophe.
(d) Catalog.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is the best definition for "trod" in the context of line 3?

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

3. Which technique is used in line 9, "Just like moons and like suns"?

4. What technique is used in lines 7 and 8, "’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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