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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 technique is frequently used at the beginnings of stanzas?
(a) Cacophony.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Internal rhyme.
(d) Rhetorical question.

2. What techniques are used in line 19, "’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines"?
(a) Sibilance and onomatopoeia.
(b) Onomatopoeia and alliteration.
(c) Assonance and sibilance.
(d) Alliteration and assonance.

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

4. What words create a refrain in the final two stanzas of the poem?
(a) "I rise."
(b) "I rise and rise."
(c) "Again I rise."
(d) "Still I rise."

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. Which is the best definition of "beset" in line 6?

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

3. What is the rhyme scheme of the first seven stanzas?

4. Which two things does the final stanza use to represent the past and present?

5. What technique is used in line 29, "Out of the huts of history’s shame"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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