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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 7 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What precious stones does the speaker use to evoke beauty and value in the simile in line 27?
2. Why is the speaker's past "rooted in pain" (line 32)?
3. What technique is used in line 29, "Out of the huts of history’s shame"?
4. Which is the best definition for "trod" in the context of line 3?
5. Which technique is frequently used at the beginnings of stanzas?
Short Essay Questions
1. What do all of the questions the speaker asks have in common?
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. Describe how the final two stanzas of the poem differ from the first seven stazas.
5. In the final stanza, what metaphor does the speaker use, and what does it signify?
6. Describe the pattern that stanzas 2, 4, 5, and 7 have in common.
7. What oppressive actions does the speaker suggest "you" might take, and how does she say she will respond?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
How does Angelou's use of rhyme in "Still I Rise" relate to the broader question of how she employs musical devices in this poem? What are the purposes of the rhyme scheme? How does it group and emphasize ideas, create pace and flow, and contribute to tone? How does Angelou use other musical devices, such as rhythm and repetition, (of sounds, words and phrases, grammatical patterns, and so on), to accomplish these same objectives? Write an essay in which you demonstrate how the poem's rhyme scheme and its other musical devices work together to accomplish similar objectives. Support your analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Read Lucille Clifton's poem "won't you celebrate with me" (available online). What does Clifton mean by "babylon," in line 4? What claim is she making about oppression and triumph? How does she also use natural resources in her poem? Is her speaker's voice similar to or different from the speaker in "Still I Rise"? Why? Write an essay in which you discuss similarities and differences in the way Clifton and Angelou approach the theme of survival against oppression. Support your analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout both poems, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.
Essay Topic 3
How does Angelou use the rhythm of her poem to create tone and shifts in tone? How does she use meter to emphasize ideas and support the poem's overall meaning? Write an essay in which you explicate and analyze the poem's rhythm. Describe how the initial meter is established and then note where this dominant meter changes. Comment on the possible purposes of both the poem's dominant meter and any changes to new metrical patterns. Support your explication and analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.
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This section contains 872 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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