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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. Which is the first stanza of the poem that is longer than four lines?
(a) 6.
(b) 9.
(c) 8.
(d) 7.

2. 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.

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

4. Who is the author of "Still I Rise"?
(a) Alice Walker.
(b) Toni Morrison.
(c) Nikki Giovanni.
(d) Maya Angelou.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In the final quatrain, what does the speaker wonder about upsetting "you" with?

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

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

5. Where does the speaker say she obtained her gifts?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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