Living Space Quizzes

Living Space Quiz

1 What is the speaker's point of view?
first-person from the perspective of someone living in poverty

third-person from the perspective of someone living in poverty

third-person from the perspective of someone observing a living space

first-person from the perspective of someone observing a living space
2 Besides the structure of the building, what else is the speaker criticizing in the first lines of the poem?
The structure of poverty

The ability of the inhabitants to build

The issue of food waste

The lack of access to water
3 Where did Dharker state that the poem refers to?
The slums of Lahore

The slums of Mumbai

The slums of Dubai

The slums of Scotland
4 Where does the poem state that it takes place?
Unspecified

The slums of Mumbai

The slums of Scotland

The slums of Dubai
5 What is the effect of the poem's setting?
The setting is Scotland, which grants the reader knowledge about where the poet grew up

The setting is Lahore, which grants the reader knowledge about where the poet was born

The lack of specificity makes the poem applicable to anywhere in the world

There is no effect made by the setting
6 What is the problem outlined by the speaker in the first two lines?
There are not enough straight lines

Nails clutch at open seams

The whole structure leans dangerously

The eggs hang out over the dark edge of a slanted universe
7 Describe the poem's stanzas.
There are three stanzas that vary in length

There are three quatrains

There are four quatrains

There are four stanzas that vary in length
8 What is the form of the poem?
Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Sonnet

Free verse
9 Which of the following is a simile?
"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"The whole structure leans dangerously / Towards the miraculous."

"As if they were / The bright, thin walls of faith"

"Into this rough frame, / Someone has squeezed / A living space"
10 Which is an example of alliteration?
“or parallel. Beams / balance crookedly on supports”

"The whole structure leans dangerously / Towards the miraculous."

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"As if they were / The bright, thin walls of faith"
11 What is alliteration?
repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in five or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually final consonant sounds in five or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually final consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables
12 What is the tone of the poem?
Assertive, Pessimistic

Joyful, Reflective

Critical, Hopeful

Acerbic, Ironic
13 Which is an example of personification?
Someone has squeezed / A living space

Gathering the light / Into themselves,

Nails clutch at open seams.

Beams / Balance crookedly on supports
14 What is personification?
repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

a comparison of two things that are not the same

a technique that involves non-human things displaying literal human traits and being capable of human behavior

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form
15 Who or what is the protagonist?
The speaker

Dharker

The reader

The people who are determined to create a living space despite difficult circumstances
16 Who or what is the antagonist?
The mayor

The poet

The structure of poverty.

The building
17 What is the poem's major conflict?
The major conflict of the poem is that the eggs could crack.

The major conflict of the poem is that people have no choice but to live in dangerous living conditions.

The major conflict of the poem is that the building falls down.

The major conflict of the poem is that the eggs crack.
18 What does "parallel" mean?
side by side and having the same distance continuously between them

lines that cross

lines that interact

side by side and having an uneven distance continuously between them
19 What does "slanted" mean?
straight

sloping or leaning in a particular direction

parallel

bent
20 Which line best exhibits the architectural eye of the speaker?
"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"These eggs in a wire basket"

"That / Is the problem"

"There are just not enough / Straight lines,"
21 How does the poet show the resilience of the building's inhabitants?
By using the building itself and the eggs as metaphors. The inhabitants are evoked in absence.

By showing them building the house.

By showing them cook eggs.

By showing what they do to rebuild their lives after the monsoon season.
22 What does the word "dared" imply?
Troublemaking

Resilience

Hope

Courage and audacity
23 Which stanza is the shortest?
They are all the same length

The final one to show the pressure that the inhabitants are under

The middle one in order to reflect how the inhabitants squeeze life into the space

The middle one to reflect how the building could fall down
24 Who gathers the light into themselves in the poem?
The speaker

The building

The eggs

The inhabitants
25 What are eggs compared to?
Through a simile, they represent the inhabitants. Symbolically, they are compared to a house of faith.

Through a simile, they are compared to a house of faith. Symbolically, they represent the inhabitants.

Through a metaphor, they represent the inhabitants. Symbolically, they are compared to a house of faith.

Through a metaphor, they are compared to a house of faith. Symbolically, they represent the inhabitants.

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Study Guide for Living Space

Living Space study guide contains a biography of Imtiaz Dharker, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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