An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

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

2

5

3

4
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?

promiscuous

physically appealing

foul, disgusting

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 dead bodies

They are actually robots

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

They are monsters
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")?

jumping into a vat of acid

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

being touched with someone that has very rough hands

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

pain of the unknown

not being able to run

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

a helicopter

the mind

the devil

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

the "lost soul"

the devil

God

the speaker
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 pain

through nature, like trees and a river

through the separation between soul and body

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

New York City

human love

his home

his body
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?

words and emotion

where he lives

his facial features

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

metal

words

the soul

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

everyone

the speaker's lover

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?

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

Jack Kerouac

white people

the person the speaker abandoned in a past life
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

assonance

metonymy

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

together

healthy

debased/depraved

complete
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?

a type of bridge

a forest

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?

fear, death, destruction

ritual, conformity, collectivity

harmony, unity, peace

religion, sacredness, awe
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

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

kill him

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life
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

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions

someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?

God

the sky

the gale that the cold men are living in

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