The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?
"My city takes me dancing..." (Line 21)

"That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar" (Lines 12-13)

"The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes" (Line 9)

"It may by now be a lie, banned by the state" (Line 15)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?
Paper

A wolf

Sunlight

Shadows
3 Which of the following does the speaker not have?
A piece of paper

A hollow doll

A passport

A paperweight
4 "There once was a ____... I left it as a ___."
city / November

country / child

country / hollow doll

city / child
5 Which of the following is NOT a major theme in the poem?
Religion

Language

War

Memory
6 In what year was "The Émigrée" published?
2001

1983

1987

1976
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?
"They accuse me of being dark in their free city" (Line 23)

"There once was a country... I left it as a child" (Line 1)

"That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)

"I comb its hair and love its shining eyes" (Line 20)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?
White

Brown

Earthy

Grey
9 Which of the following is NOT a metaphor in the poem?
"my original view, the bright, filled paperweight" (Line 6)

"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)

"but my memory of it is sunlight-clear" (Line 2)

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)
10 The poem contains ____
rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

Tthree stanzas, with the first two containing eight lines and the final one containing nine lines.

rhree stanzas, with the first two containing nine lines and the final stanza containing eight lines.

four stanzas of nine lines each.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?
A docile figure

A doll

Sunlight

White Streets
12 Which of the following best describes the speaker's tone when discussing the "city of walls?"
Calm

Confronting

Docile

Threatened
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?
A person on the move

An expatriate

A person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country
14 Which of the following is NOT a simile used in the poem?
"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)

"That child's vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)

"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)

"...docile as paper" (Line 19
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?
A hollow doll

Tyranny

A lie

A grape
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?
A hollow paperweight

A filled paperweight

Colorful molecules

December
17 What word is used at the end of each stanza?
Sunlight

City

Country

Girl
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
November

December

January

March
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
fairytales

nothing

Europe

World War 2
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Iambic tetrameter

Free verse
21 What is the city "sick with" according to Line 7?
Tyrants

Corrupt politicians

Malaria

War
22 What is the passage of time metaphorically compared to?
A soothing balm

A waterfall

Warfare (tanks)

A fight with a loved one
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?
The dolls

An unspecified "they"

The walls

The tyrants
24 What is the speaker accused of?
Absence and darkness

Leaving

Supporting the wrong side

Tyranny and oppression
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?
Evil

The personified city's cowardice

The speaker's love for her children

Even her own darkness is a symbol of her sunlit impression of her country

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The Emigrée study guide contains a biography of Patricia Aakhus, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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