An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

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

5

3

4

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

allegory

simile

comparison

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

foul, disgusting

physically appealing

promiscuous

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 actually robots

They are dead bodies

They are monsters

He is interacting with their flesh but has no contact with their souls
5 What traps the speaker of the poem?

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

The confines of jail

He is being held captive by a horde of men

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")?

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

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")?

not being able to run

worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

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 devil

a helicopter

a bird

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

the speaker

the devil

the "lost soul"

God
10 What kind of literary element is "whithered yellow flowers" in Stanza V?

simile

hyperbole

metonymy

metaphor
11 How is beauty practiced in Stanza V?

through poetry

through the separation between soul and body

through nature, like trees and a river

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

his home

his body

human love

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

his facial features

words and emotion

his height and weight

where he lives
14 What has no feeling in Stanza VIII?

the body

metal

words

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?

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

white people

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

onomatopoeia

metaphor

simile

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

metonymy

onomatopoeia

assonance

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

healthy

debased/depraved

together

complete
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

ritual, conformity, collectivity

religion, sacredness, awe

harmony, unity, peace
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?

kill him

make him read lots of books and expand his mind

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

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

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

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)?

the gale that the cold men are living in

God

the sky

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?

to bring up different kinds of "yes"

to really emphasize what he is referring to

because it sounds cool

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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