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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. Which is the first stanza of the poem that is longer than four lines?
(a) 8.
(b) 7.
(c) 6.
(d) 9.

5. Which is the best definition of "beset" in line 6?
(a) Decorated.
(b) Inspired.
(c) Troubled.
(d) Cradled.

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

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

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

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

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

11. What technique is used in line 29, "Out of the huts of history’s shame"?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Oxymoron.
(c) Juxtaposition.
(d) Allegory.

12. What is the rhyme scheme of the first seven stanzas?
(a) ABAB.
(b) ABCB.
(c) ABBA.
(d) ABAC.

13. What techniques are used in line 19, "’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines"?
(a) Sibilance and onomatopoeia.
(b) Alliteration and assonance.
(c) Assonance and sibilance.
(d) Onomatopoeia and alliteration.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. What precious stones does the speaker use to evoke beauty and value in the simile in line 27?

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

(see the answer keys)

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