On the Pulse of Morning Quizzes

On the Pulse of Morning Quiz

1 For whose presidential inauguration did Angelou write this work?

Bill Clinton

Barack Obama

John F. Kennedy

Jimmy Carter
2 How many stanzas are in the poem?

13

8

21

3
3 What is the work's rhyme scheme?

ABBA CDDC

ABABAB

AABBCC

It has no rhyme scheme
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

Imploring

Hopeful

Thoughtful
6 Which is a central argument of this poem?

That free speech is both dangerous and necessary

That history must be bravely faced

That history must be forgotten

That democracy is a fragile institution
7 Who is the speaker?

An array of immigrants arriving to America

A recently freed slave

The speaker is a fluid, omnipotent-seeming entity

A small child
8 What is the poem's meter?

Dactylic hexameter

It is written in iambs, but the number of feet varies

Iambic pentameter

Free verse
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 Americans must travel their country to speak to one another

That every region of the United States is equally important in different ways

That colonialism is ongoing throughout America's territories abroad

That interpersonal and environmental destruction go hand-in-hand
11 Which prehistoric animal is alluded to in this work?

Pterodactyl

Mastodon

Wooly mammoth

Single-celled amoeba
12 In which year was this poem first performed?

1993

2012

2009

1964
13 What is meant by the word "hastening"?

Speeding up

Awkward

A type of seasoning

Storming
14 What is meant by the word "sojourn"?

Summertime

Folk song common in the U.S.

Presidential term

Temporary dwelling
15 What is a mendicant?

A doctor

A beggar

A farmer

A seamstress
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?

Sextets

Tercets

Couplets

The poem has no single stanza type
18 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for cynicism?

A telephone

A wound

A garden

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

The neighbor

The speaker

Mastodons

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

Langston Hughes

Robert Frost

Elizabeth Alexander

Amanda Gorman
21 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for producing a dream?

Cooking a meal

Giving birth

An assembly line

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

Assonant OU sounds

Alliterative T sounds

Assonant A sounds

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

Through onomatopoeia

Through alliteration

Through assonance

Through rhyme
24 What does morning symbolize?

Hard work

Solitude

Clarity

A fresh start
25 What does "Midas" allude to?

An American founding father

A Native American tribe

A mythological king

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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