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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. Who is the author of "Still I Rise"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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