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)?
comparison

metaphor

simile

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

lovely and beautiful

promiscuous

physically appealing
4 What does Baraka mean by "without shadow, or voice, or meaning" when referring to the "hard flesh" that he touches in Stanza II?
He is interacting with their flesh but has no contact with their souls

They are monsters

They are actually robots

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

The confines of jail

He is being held captive by a horde of men

His own flesh, which is made into an object by society
6 What is the first kind of pain listed in this poem ("As now, as all his / flesh hurts me")?
the torture of being stuck inside your body that is not a part of who you actually are

jumping into a vat of acid

having a skin condition that makes skin-to-skin contact painful

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")?
pain of abandonment and loss of love

worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

pain of the unknown

not being able to run
8 What goes "higher than even old men thought / God would be" (Stanza V)?
a helicopter

a bird

the devil

the mind
9 Who turns out to be a "self, after all" (Stanza VI)?
the "lost soul"

the speaker

God

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

metaphor

simile

hyperbole
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 body

New York City

human love

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

where he lives

words and emotion

his height and weight
14 What has no feeling in Stanza VIII?
metal

the soul

words

the body
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
the "lost soul"

the soul that is trapped inside of its body

everyone

the speaker's lover
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

white people

Jack Kerouac
17 What kind of literary element is "blind" (Stanza V)?
hyperbole

metaphor

simile

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

alliteration

onomatopoeia

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

healthy

debased/depraved

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

harmony, unity, peace

ritual, conformity, collectivity

religion, sacredness, awe
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
kill him

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

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

make him read lots of books and expand his mind
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions

his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

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

someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
flesh, symbolized by metal that is so hot it becomes white

the gale that the cold men are living in

the sky

God
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 bring up different kinds of "yes"

because it sounds cool

to really emphasize what he is referring to

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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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