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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) Innuendo.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Kenning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Which technique is used in line 9, "Just like moons and like suns"?
(a) Dialect.
(b) Parallelism.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Euphemism.

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

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

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

12. 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.

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

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

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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