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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 7 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?

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

3. What technique is used in lines 7 and 8, "’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room"?

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

5. What techniques are used in line 19, "’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines"?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the final stanza, what metaphor does the speaker use, and what does it signify?

2. What oppressive actions does the speaker suggest "you" might take, and how does she say she will respond?

3. What do all of the questions the speaker asks have in common?

4. Describe the pattern that stanzas 2, 4, 5, and 7 have in common.

5. What specific historical phenomenon does the speaker talk about rising above in the final two stanzas, and what allusion does she use to introduce the topic?

6. Describe how the final two stanzas of the poem differ from the first seven stazas.

7. Why is the poem titled "Still I Rise" and not just "I Rise"--what additional idea does the word "Still" convey?

(see the answer keys)

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