I Know a Man Quizzes

I Know a Man Quiz

1 When was the poem published?

2005

1955

1991

1959
2 What literary movement was Robert Creeley commonly associated with?

The Beat poets

The Surrealists

The Futurists

The Black Mountain poets
3 Who is the protagonist of the poem?

A CEO

The speaker

The speaker's friend

A big car
4 Where does the poem take place?

In a car

Near a forest

By a lake

In the desert
5 What does Creeley use the abbreviation "sd" to mean?

"said"

"sold"

"sad"

"seized"
6 Which of the following lines contains alliteration?

"can we do against"

"name, the darkness sur-"

"for / christ’s sake,"

"because I am / always talking,"
7 What does Creeley use the abbreviation "yr" to mean in the poem?

"your"

"yore"

"you're"

"year"
8 What type of stanzas does the poem use?

Tercets

Couplets

Sextets

Quatrains
9 Which of the following is an image in the poem?

The night sky

Stars

A big car

An airplane
10 How does the speaker characterize himself in the first stanza?

Talkative

Quiet

Irritable

Cheerful
11 What is the meter of the poem?

Free verse

Dactylic hexameter

Dactylic pentameter

Iambic trimeter
12 What best describes the tone of the poem?

Colloquial and anxious

Bitter and brief

Formal and serious

Relaxed and casual
13 What image does the speaker use to depict his concerns?

A stormy sea

The color red

Darkness

A rain cloud
14 What is the main conflict of the poem?

The speaker's anxiety about driving

The speaker's inability to get home

The speaker's dislike of his friend

The speaker's search for meaning in the world
15 How does the speaker's friend suggest he get over his worries?

By purchasing a home

By joining a gym

By driving

By investing in the stock market
16 What did Creeley often do with this poem?

Hold it up as his greatest work

Disavow it in public

Read it out loud

Anthologize it
17 When is the climax of the poem?

In the last stanza

In the third stanza

In the first stanza

In the second stanza
18 How does the poem begin?

During a road trip

In the midst of a nightmare

At the height of an arguement

In the middle of a conversation
19 What does the speaker's friend tell him to do at the end of the poem?

Always bring a map

Never pay too much for a car

Watch where he's going

Not take shortcuts
20 What effect do the abbreviations in the poem have on the overall mood?

They make it more difficult to understand

They make it seem unfinished

They make it feel more immediate

They make it seem like it has typographical errors
21 Which of the following poets was NOT a contemporary of Creeley's?

Paul Blackburn

Charles Olson

Walt Whitman

Ed Dorn
22 What literary device does Creeley use throughout the poem?

Unconventional capitalization

Synecdoche

Zeugma

Enjambment
23 What is unusual about the word "surrounds" in the poem?

It appears on a line by itself

It is underlined

It is broken up between two lines

It is italicized
24 What is the speaker's friend's name?

We don't know

Charles

Robert

John
25 What punctuation separates individual ideas in the poem?

Semicolons

Commas

Parentheses

Periods

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I Know a Man study guide contains a biography of Robert Creeley, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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