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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. 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 history."
(d) The "certainty of tides."

10. Why is the speaker's past "rooted in pain" (line 32)?
(a) Because no one appreciates her value.
(b) Because she has been abandoned by someone she loves.
(c) Because of the death of a loved one.
(d) Because of bigotry and discrimination.

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is the most logical description of who "You" is in line 1?

2. Which two things does the final stanza use to represent the past and present?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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