On the Pulse of Morning Quizzes

On the Pulse of Morning Quiz

1 For whose presidential inauguration did Angelou write this work?
Jimmy Carter

Bill Clinton

John F. Kennedy

Barack Obama
2 How many stanzas are in the poem?
3

21

8

13
3 What is the work's rhyme scheme?
It has no rhyme scheme

ABBA CDDC

ABABAB

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

Harmful immigration policies

Exciting secrecy

Emotional isolation
5 Which does NOT describe the work's tone?
Hopeful

Angry

Thoughtful

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

That democracy is a fragile institution

That history must be bravely faced

That history must be forgotten
7 Who is the speaker?
A small child

An array of immigrants arriving to America

The speaker is a fluid, omnipotent-seeming entity

A recently freed slave
8 What is the poem's meter?
It is written in iambs, but the number of feet varies

Dactylic hexameter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter
9 Where does the poem take place?
Washington, D.C.

California in the Gold Rush

New Orleans

America
10 Which of the following is an argument of the poem?
That interpersonal and environmental destruction go hand-in-hand

That colonialism is ongoing throughout America's territories abroad

That Americans must travel their country to speak to one another

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

Wooly mammoth

Pterodactyl
12 In which year was this poem first performed?
1964

2009

2012

1993
13 What is meant by the word "hastening"?
Awkward

Speeding up

Storming

A type of seasoning
14 What is meant by the word "sojourn"?
Presidential term

Folk song common in the U.S.

Temporary dwelling

Summertime
15 What is a mendicant?
A beggar

A doctor

A seamstress

A farmer
16 How does the poem's speaker exemplify the theme of unity?
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

By describing how it forgives and embraces its oppressors

By offering itself up for the good of the nation
17 What type of stanzas comprise this poem?
Tercets

Sextets

The poem has no single stanza type

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

A shield

A wound

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

Human brutality

The speaker

The neighbor
20 Who has NOT read a poem at a presidential inauguration?
Elizabeth Alexander

Langston Hughes

Amanda Gorman

Robert Frost
21 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for producing a dream?
Writing a poem

An assembly line

Giving birth

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

Alliterative T sounds

Assonant OU sounds

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

Through rhyme

Through onomatopoeia

Through assonance
24 What does morning symbolize?
Hard work

A fresh start

Solitude

Clarity
25 What does "Midas" allude to?
An American founding father

A mythological king

A Native American tribe

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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