The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

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

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

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

"My city takes me dancing..." (Line 21)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?

A wolf

Shadows

Sunlight

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

A hollow doll

A passport

A piece of paper

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

country / hollow doll

country / child

city / child

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

Language

Memory

Religion

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

1976

2001

1983

1987
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?

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

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

"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)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?

Grey

Earthy

White

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

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)

"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)
10 The poem contains ____

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

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

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

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

A doll

A docile figure

White Streets

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

Calm

Threatened

Docile

Confronting
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?

A person on the move

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

An expatriate

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)

"...docile as paper" (Line 19

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

"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?

Tyranny

A lie

A hollow doll

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

December

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

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

Country

City

Girl

Sunlight
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

January

March

December

November
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

nothing

Europe

World War 2

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

Free verse

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

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

War

Malaria

Tyrants

Corrupt politicians
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?

An unspecified "they"

The tyrants

The walls

The dolls
24 What is the speaker accused of?

Tyranny and oppression

Leaving

Absence and darkness

Supporting the wrong side
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?

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

Evil

The personified city's cowardice

The speaker's love for her children

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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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