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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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) Personification.
(c) Simile.
(d) Juxtaposition.

15. 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) Endurance.
(d) Power.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in line 21, "You may shoot me with your words"?

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

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

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

5. What body of water does the speaker claim to be in the eighth stanza?

(see the answer keys)

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