I Know a Man Quizzes

I Know a Man Quiz

1 When was the poem published?

1955

1959

1991

2005
2 What literary movement was Robert Creeley commonly associated with?

The Black Mountain poets

The Beat poets

The Futurists

The Surrealists
3 Who is the protagonist of the poem?

The speaker

A CEO

A big car

The speaker's friend
4 Where does the poem take place?

In the desert

By a lake

Near a forest

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

"seized"

"sold"

"sad"

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

"for / christ’s sake,"

"because I am / always talking,"

"name, the darkness sur-"

"can we do against"
7 What does Creeley use the abbreviation "yr" to mean in the poem?

"you're"

"yore"

"year"

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

Couplets

Quatrains

Tercets

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

The night sky

A big car

Stars

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

Cheerful

Talkative

Quiet

Irritable
11 What is the meter of the poem?

Iambic trimeter

Dactylic hexameter

Dactylic pentameter

Free verse
12 What best describes the tone of the poem?

Formal and serious

Relaxed and casual

Colloquial and anxious

Bitter and brief
13 What image does the speaker use to depict his concerns?

The color red

A stormy sea

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 search for meaning in the world

The speaker's dislike of his friend
15 How does the speaker's friend suggest he get over his worries?

By joining a gym

By investing in the stock market

By driving

By purchasing a home
16 What did Creeley often do with this poem?

Read it out loud

Hold it up as his greatest work

Disavow it in public

Anthologize it
17 When is the climax of the poem?

In the third stanza

In the first stanza

In the second stanza

In the last stanza
18 How does the poem begin?

In the midst of a nightmare

In the middle of a conversation

During a road trip

At the height of an arguement
19 What does the speaker's friend tell him to do at the end of the poem?

Always bring a map

Watch where he's going

Not take shortcuts

Never pay too much for a car
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 like it has typographical errors

They make it seem unfinished

They make it feel more immediate
21 Which of the following poets was NOT a contemporary of Creeley's?

Walt Whitman

Ed Dorn

Paul Blackburn

Charles Olson
22 What literary device does Creeley use throughout the poem?

Synecdoche

Enjambment

Zeugma

Unconventional capitalization
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?

Charles

We don't know

Robert

John
25 What punctuation separates individual ideas in the poem?

Periods

Semicolons

Commas

Parentheses

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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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