An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

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

3

2

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

comparison

simile

metaphor
3 What does "wretched" most likely mean in the context of line 6?
lovely and beautiful

physically appealing

foul, disgusting

promiscuous
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 monsters

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

They are actually robots
5 What traps the speaker of the poem?
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

A factory that he cannot escape
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

being touched with someone that has very rough hands

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
7 What is the second kind of pain given in this poem ("As when she ran from me into / that forest")?
pain of the unknown

pain of abandonment and loss of love

not being able to run

worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest
8 What goes "higher than even old men thought / God would be" (Stanza V)?
a helicopter

the devil

the mind

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

the devil

God

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

metonymy

hyperbole

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

through nature, like trees and a river

through pain

through the separation between soul and body
12 What does the speaker *actually* live inside?
New York City

his home

his body

human love
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
where he lives

his facial features

his height and weight

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

words

the body

the soul
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
the soul that is trapped inside of its body

the speaker's lover

everyone

the "lost soul"
16 Based on textual evidence, who could be the "lost soul" the speaker refers to in Stanza V?
Jack Kerouac

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

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

simile

onomatopoeia

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

onomatopoeia

alliteration

assonance
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 courtyard

a type of bridge

a windy place
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

harmony, unity, peace

ritual, conformity, collectivity
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
kill him

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

make him read lots of books and expand his mind

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions

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)?
God

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

the sky

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"

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

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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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