An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

1 How many different kinds of pain are listed in this poem?
3

5

4

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

allegory

comparison

simile
3 What does "wretched" most likely mean in the context of line 6?
foul, disgusting

promiscuous

physically appealing

lovely and beautiful
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 monsters

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

They are dead bodies

They are actually robots
5 What traps the speaker of the poem?
A factory that he cannot escape

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

He is being held captive by a horde of men

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

being touched with someone that has very rough hands

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

jumping into a vat of acid
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 abandonment and loss of love

pain of the unknown
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)?
God

the speaker

the devil

the "lost soul"
10 What kind of literary element is "whithered yellow flowers" in Stanza V?
simile

metaphor

metonymy

hyperbole
11 How is beauty practiced in Stanza V?
through pain

through the separation between soul and body

through nature, like trees and a river

through poetry
12 What does the speaker *actually* live inside?
his home

human love

his body

New York City
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
words and emotion

where he lives

his height and weight

his facial features
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

the soul that is trapped inside of its body

the "lost soul"

everyone
16 Based on textual evidence, who could be the "lost soul" the speaker refers to in Stanza V?
Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

Jack Kerouac

the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

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

onomatopoeia

simile

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

assonance

alliteration

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

healthy

together

debased/depraved
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?
a forest

a type of bridge

a windy place

a courtyard
21 What kind of associations come up with the actions of "the cold men in their gale" in Stanza VI?
ritual, conformity, collectivity

fear, death, destruction

religion, sacredness, awe

harmony, unity, peace
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
make him read lots of books and expand his mind

kill him

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

carry him in a ritualistic procession as if preparing him for sacrifice
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing

bodies are very beautiful and often the skin looks like a work of art

his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
the gale that the cold men are living in

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

God

the sky
25 Why might have Baraka chosen to repeat "the yes" the times in Stanzas V-VI?
it creates a repetition of rhythm and speeds up the meter towards the climax of the poem; also helps the poem sound more musical

to really emphasize what he is referring to

to bring up different kinds of "yes"

because it sounds cool

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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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