In Those Years Quizzes

In Those Years Quiz

1 In what years does the speaker believe people "lost track?"
The 2000s

The 80s and 90s

During her youth

The 1970s
2 What does the meaning of "you" have to do with the meaning of "we?"
It is unrelated

It is part of it: within a group, we must recognize others

They are the same

It is the opposite: in a group, everyone is the same
3 What is "silly, ironic, terrible?"
The USA

The idea of community

A focus on the self alone

The dark birds of history
4 What is the relationship between the adjectives "silly" and "terrible?"
The speaker doesn't believe that either applies to her

They are seemingly in tension

They mean more or less the same thing

They both refer to the idea of community
5 Why is it problematic if you can "only bear witness" to your own life?
You get too anxious about your own problems

You ignore others

No one else can bear witness to it for you

You have to write everything down to be sure
6 What is the effect of enjambment between the following lines: "we found ourselves/reduced to I"
The second undercuts the first, showing the separation of individuals from community

It maintains iambic trimeter

It shows the speaker's anger

It shows the speaker's confusion
7 Which of the following is NOT be a likely meaning of "the dark birds of history?"
the extinction of bald eagles

structural racism

structural misogyny

class/income inequality
8 In the context of the poem, what is "personal weather?"
How one feels about one's community

The way one's life is going at any giving point, i.e. stormy or sunny

The weather in one's zip code

One's health and fitness
9 At the end of the poem, where does the speaker imagine standing?
At the shore

In her yard

With her community

In the fog of war
10 What does the image of the individual alone at the shore suggest?
Isolation and fragility

Bearing witness to life as a whole

Anger at the dark birds of history

The beauty of nature
11 Given Rich's feminism, what is she encouraging readers to do?
Ignore the dark birds of history

Form community and care about those around them

Focus on their personal problems

Read more poetry
12 Where is there a "turn" in the poem?
Between lines seven and eight

In the last couplet

Between lines one and two

Between stanzas one and two

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In Those Years study guide contains a biography of Adrienne Rich, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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