The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

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

"It may by now be a lie, banned by the state" (Line 15)

"My city takes me dancing..." (Line 21)

"The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes" (Line 9)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?

Shadows

A wolf

Paper

Sunlight
3 Which of the following does the speaker not have?

A passport

A paperweight

A piece of paper

A hollow doll
4 "There once was a ____... I left it as a ___."

city / November

city / child

country / hollow doll

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

Language

Religion

Memory

War
6 In what year was "The Émigrée" published?

1976

1987

2001

1983
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?

"I comb its hair and love its shining eyes" (Line 20)

"They accuse me of being dark in their free city" (Line 23)

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

"There once was a country... I left it as a child" (Line 1)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?

White

Earthy

Brown

Grey
9 Which of the following is NOT a metaphor in the poem?

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

"my original view, the bright, filled paperweight" (Line 6)

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

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)
10 The poem contains ____

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

four stanzas of nine lines each.

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

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

Confronting

Threatened

Docile

Calm
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?

An expatriate

A person on the move

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?

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

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

"...docile as paper" (Line 19

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?

A grape

Tyranny

A lie

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

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

Colorful molecules

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

Country

City

Girl

Sunlight
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

March

November

December

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

World War 2

Europe

nothing

fairytales
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?

Blank verse

Iambic tetrameter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter
21 What is the city "sick with" according to Line 7?

Tyrants

Malaria

Corrupt politicians

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

A waterfall

Warfare (tanks)

A soothing balm

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

The walls

The dolls

The tyrants

An unspecified "they"
24 What is the speaker accused of?

Absence and darkness

Tyranny and oppression

Supporting the wrong side

Leaving
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?

The personified city's cowardice

Evil

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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