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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. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?
(a) Arrogant and proud.
(b) Strange and eccentric.
(c) Sneaky and dishonest.
(d) Mean-spirited and petty.

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

3. 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.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. In the fourth stanza, what kind of person does the speaker ask if "you" want her to be?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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