Toggle navigation

|

? HELP

study guides
lesson plans
bios
essays
homework help
Blog
Sign In

Bringing the Shovel Down Quiz

This Study Guide consists of approximately 14 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Bringing the Shovel Down.

Bringing the Shovel Down by

Get Bringing the Shovel Down from Amazon.com

View the Study Pack

Study Guide

Order our Bringing the Shovel Down Study Guide

Show Section Navigation

+Chapters Summary and Analysis

Symbols and Symbolism

Themes and Motifs

Styles

Quotes

Order our Bringing the Shovel Down Study Guide

Bringing the Shovel Down Quiz

This Study Guide consists of approximately 14 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Bringing the Shovel Down.

Buy and print the Bringing the Shovel Down Study Guide

Print

Buy and download the Bringing the Shovel Down Study Guide

Word

Buy and download the Bringing the Shovel Down Study Guide

PDF

Take our free Bringing the Shovel Down quiz below, with 25 multiple choice questions that help you test your knowledge. Determine which chapters, themes and styles you already know and what you need to study for your upcoming essay, midterm, or final exam. Take the free quiz now!

Directions: Click on the correct answer.

Questions 1-5 of 10:

1.

Why might the speaker be unreliable? (from Lines 1 – 90)

The speaker is disembodied because part of him or her is a machine inside the beloved's body.

The speaker is very much in love, and is lovesick as a result.

The speaker is the boy in the story.

The speaker compares his or her own telling of the story to the "yarn" that the kids spin about Max.

2.

Why is the boy's catharsis false? (from Lines 1 – 90)

The boy does not experience catharsis, but rather undergoes terrible guilt at what he has done.

The boy finds relief after releasing the old neighborhood dog and feeding him hot dogs.

The boy feels relief and connection to the natural world without understanding that he murdered an innocent being.

The boy was forced to kill Max by the group of older kids. Eventually he sees a therapist and resolves his trauma.

3.

How does Gay bring the embedded narrative into the poem's present? (from Lines 1 – 90)

The kid in the story is the child of the speaker and the beloved.

The spade that the boy used to kill Max belonged to the speaker's grandfather.

The speaker reveals himself to be the boy in the story, and he has to confess to the beloved.

After killing Max, the boy picks raspberries. These same fruits can be found in the speaker's fridge inside a bowl made by the beloved.

4.

Which is not a factor in this poem? (from Lines 1 – 90)

Run-on sentence

Metaphor

Vivid imagery

Regular meter and rhyme

5.

Which collection was this poem published in? (from Lines 1 – 90)

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

The Book of Delights

Bringing the Shovel Down

Be Holding

More summaries and resources for teaching or studying Bringing the Shovel Down.

Browse all BookRags Study Guides.

Copyrights

Bringing the Shovel Down from BookRags. (c)2026 BookRags, Inc. All rights reserved.

BookRags

About BookRags | Customer Service | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy

Copyright 2026 by BookRags, Inc.

FOLLOW BOOKRAGS:

Follow BookRags on Facebook

Follow BookRags on Twitter

Follow BookRags on Pinterest