On the Pulse of Morning Quizzes

On the Pulse of Morning Quiz

1 For whose presidential inauguration did Angelou write this work?
Barack Obama

Bill Clinton

Jimmy Carter

John F. Kennedy
2 How many stanzas are in the poem?
3

8

13

21
3 What is the work's rhyme scheme?
It has no rhyme scheme

ABBA CDDC

AABBCC

ABABAB
4 What does the mention of "a bordered country" suggest?
The mystery of the past

Emotional isolation

Exciting secrecy

Harmful immigration policies
5 Which does NOT describe the work's tone?
Angry

Thoughtful

Imploring

Hopeful
6 Which is a central argument of this poem?
That free speech is both dangerous and necessary

That history must be bravely faced

That democracy is a fragile institution

That history must be forgotten
7 Who is the speaker?
An array of immigrants arriving to America

The speaker is a fluid, omnipotent-seeming entity

A small child

A recently freed slave
8 What is the poem's meter?
Dactylic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

It is written in iambs, but the number of feet varies
9 Where does the poem take place?
New Orleans

Washington, D.C.

California in the Gold Rush

America
10 Which of the following is an argument of the poem?
That colonialism is ongoing throughout America's territories abroad

That Americans must travel their country to speak to one another

That interpersonal and environmental destruction go hand-in-hand

That every region of the United States is equally important in different ways
11 Which prehistoric animal is alluded to in this work?
Single-celled amoeba

Mastodon

Pterodactyl

Wooly mammoth
12 In which year was this poem first performed?
2012

2009

1964

1993
13 What is meant by the word "hastening"?
A type of seasoning

Storming

Speeding up

Awkward
14 What is meant by the word "sojourn"?
Summertime

Presidential term

Folk song common in the U.S.

Temporary dwelling
15 What is a mendicant?
A farmer

A beggar

A seamstress

A doctor
16 How does the poem's speaker exemplify the theme of unity?
By offering itself up for the good of the nation

By describing how it forgives and embraces its oppressors

By leading call-and-response chants to bring an audience together

By serving as a shared voice for a variety of different beings and entities
17 What type of stanzas comprise this poem?
Couplets

The poem has no single stanza type

Sextets

Tercets
18 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for cynicism?
A garden

A shield

A telephone

A wound
19 Which can best be described as the poem's antagonist?
Mastodons

The speaker

The neighbor

Human brutality
20 Who has NOT read a poem at a presidential inauguration?
Langston Hughes

Robert Frost

Amanda Gorman

Elizabeth Alexander
21 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for producing a dream?
An assembly line

Cooking a meal

Giving birth

Writing a poem
22 The line “Rock, the River, the Tree, your country," includes which of the following?
Assonant A sounds

Alliterative R sounds

Assonant OU sounds

Alliterative T sounds
23 How does Angelou emphasize the links between Midas, the mastodon, and the mendicant?
Through onomatopoeia

Through assonance

Through alliteration

Through rhyme
24 What does morning symbolize?
Hard work

Clarity

A fresh start

Solitude
25 What does "Midas" allude to?
A Native American tribe

A mythological king

An American founding father

An early African American poet

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Study Guide for On the Pulse of Morning

On the Pulse of Morning study guide contains a biography of Maya Angelou, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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