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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 technique is used in lines 7 and 8, "’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room"?
(a) Simile.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Personification.
(d) Juxtaposition.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What technique does the first line of the poem, "You may write me down in history," introduce?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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