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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 is the primary quality that the speaker's stanza eight description of a body of water is intended to convey?
(a) Endurance.
(b) Power.
(c) Persistence.
(d) Independence.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. Which technique is frequently used at the beginnings of stanzas?

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

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

3. 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?

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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