The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

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

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

"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)
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 paperweight

A piece of paper

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

city / child

country / child

country / hollow doll

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

Religion

Memory

War

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

1983

1987

2001

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

Grey

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

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

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

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

"my original view, the bright, filled paperweight" (Line 6)
10 The poem contains ____

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

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

four stanzas of nine lines each.

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?

Sunlight

White Streets

A doll

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

Threatened

Confronting

Docile

Calm
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country

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
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

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

"That child's vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?

Tyranny

A grape

A hollow doll

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

A filled paperweight

Colorful molecules

A hollow paperweight

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

Girl

City

Sunlight

Country
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

December

March

November

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

Europe

nothing

World War 2

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

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Free verse

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

War

Corrupt politicians

Malaria

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

A fight with a loved one

A soothing balm

A waterfall

Warfare (tanks)
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?

An unspecified "they"

The walls

The tyrants

The dolls
24 What is the speaker accused of?

Supporting the wrong side

Absence and darkness

Leaving

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

The speaker's love for her children

Evil

The personified city's cowardice

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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