Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 7 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?
2. What is the rhyme scheme of the first seven stanzas?
3. In the final quatrain, what does the speaker wonder about upsetting "you" with?
4. Who is the author of "Still I Rise"?
5. Which two things does the final stanza use to represent the past and present?
Short Essay Questions
1. What do all of the questions the speaker asks have in common?
2. Describe how the final two stanzas of the poem differ from the first seven stazas.
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. Why is the poem titled "Still I Rise" and not just "I Rise"--what additional idea does the word "Still" convey?
5. What oppressive actions does the speaker suggest "you" might take, and how does she say she will respond?
6. Describe the pattern that stanzas 2, 4, 5, and 7 have in common.
7. In the final stanza, what metaphor does the speaker use, and what does it signify?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Read Maya Angelou's poem "The Mothering Blackness" (available online). How does Angelou use repetition in this poem? How is it similar to and different from the way she uses repetition in "Still I Rise"? Consider the various forms of repetition in both poems as well as the purposes repetition serves. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the use of repetition in "The Mothering Blackness" and "Still I Rise." 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 2
How does "Still I Rise" employ apostrophe to challenge not just an unnamed oppressor but the poem's reader, as well? How does the speaker establish that the poem is an apostrophe? What clues are there about whom the apostrophe is addressed to? Is it possible that the reader is the intended audience of this apostrophe? What choices Angelou makes indicate whether she wants the reader to identify with the speaker or with the unnamed oppressor? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about whether the reader is a bystander to the poem's apostrophe or is, in fact, the oppressor being addressed. 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 3
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.
|
This section contains 849 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
