An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

1 How many different kinds of pain are listed in this poem?
5

4

2

3
2 What kind of literary element is "fouled tunes" (line 4)?
metaphor

simile

comparison

allegory
3 What does "wretched" most likely mean in the context of line 6?
physically appealing

promiscuous

lovely and beautiful

foul, disgusting
4 What does Baraka mean by "without shadow, or voice, or meaning" when referring to the "hard flesh" that he touches in Stanza II?
They are actually robots

He is interacting with their flesh but has no contact with their souls

They are monsters

They are dead bodies
5 What traps the speaker of the poem?
He is being held captive by a horde of men

His own flesh, which is made into an object by society

A factory that he cannot escape

The confines of jail
6 What is the first kind of pain listed in this poem ("As now, as all his / flesh hurts me")?
having a skin condition that makes skin-to-skin contact painful

the torture of being stuck inside your body that is not a part of who you actually are

jumping into a vat of acid

being touched with someone that has very rough hands
7 What is the second kind of pain given in this poem ("As when she ran from me into / that forest")?
worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

not being able to run

pain of the unknown

pain of abandonment and loss of love
8 What goes "higher than even old men thought / God would be" (Stanza V)?
the mind

the devil

a helicopter

a bird
9 Who turns out to be a "self, after all" (Stanza VI)?
the speaker

God

the "lost soul"

the devil
10 What kind of literary element is "whithered yellow flowers" in Stanza V?
metaphor

metonymy

hyperbole

simile
11 How is beauty practiced in Stanza V?
through poetry

through the separation between soul and body

through pain

through nature, like trees and a river
12 What does the speaker *actually* live inside?
his home

New York City

his body

human love
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
his facial features

where he lives

his height and weight

words and emotion
14 What has no feeling in Stanza VIII?
the body

words

the soul

metal
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
the speaker's lover

everyone

the "lost soul"

the soul that is trapped inside of its body
16 Based on textual evidence, who could be the "lost soul" the speaker refers to in Stanza V?
the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

Jack Kerouac

white people
17 What kind of literary element is "blind" (Stanza V)?
metaphor

hyperbole

simile

onomatopoeia
18 What kind of literary device is used in "silver, spiraled, whirled" (Stanza V)?
onomatopoeia

metonymy

alliteration

assonance
19 What does "corrupt" most likely mean in the context of line 35?
complete

debased/depraved

healthy

together
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?
a windy place

a type of bridge

a courtyard

a forest
21 What kind of associations come up with the actions of "the cold men in their gale" in Stanza VI?
fear, death, destruction

religion, sacredness, awe

ritual, conformity, collectivity

harmony, unity, peace
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

carry him in a ritualistic procession as if preparing him for sacrifice

kill him

make him read lots of books and expand his mind
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
bodies are very beautiful and often the skin looks like a work of art

his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
God

the sky

flesh, symbolized by metal that is so hot it becomes white

the gale that the cold men are living in
25 Why might have Baraka chosen to repeat "the yes" the times in Stanzas V-VI?
because it sounds cool

to bring up different kinds of "yes"

to really emphasize what he is referring to

it creates a repetition of rhythm and speeds up the meter towards the climax of the poem; also helps the poem sound more musical

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An Agony. As Now study guide contains a biography of Imamu Amiri Baraka, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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