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

2. What precious stones does the speaker use to evoke beauty and value in the simile in line 27?
(a) Emeralds.
(b) Rubies.
(c) Diamonds.
(d) Sapphires.

3. What body of water does the speaker claim to be in the eighth stanza?
(a) An ocean.
(b) A river.
(c) A lake.
(d) A stream.

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

5. Where does the speaker say she obtained her gifts?
(a) From effort and hard work.
(b) From her ancestors.
(c) From well-chosen friends.
(d) From the passage of time.

Short Answer Questions

1. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?

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

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. 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?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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