The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

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

"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)

"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?
Sunlight

Shadows

Paper

A wolf
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 ___."
country / hollow doll

city / child

country / child

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

War

Religion

Memory
6 In what year was "The Émigrée" published?
1976

1983

1987

2001
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?
"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)

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

"They accuse me of being dark in their free city" (Line 23)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?
Earthy

White

Brown

Grey
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 ____
four stanzas of nine lines each.

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

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

rhree stanzas, with the first two containing nine lines and the final stanza containing eight lines.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?
A docile figure

White Streets

A doll

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

Threatened

Confronting

Calm
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?
A person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons

A person on the move

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

"...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?
A lie

A grape

A hollow doll

Tyranny
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?
Colorful molecules

A hollow paperweight

December

A filled paperweight
17 What word is used at the end of each stanza?
City

Sunlight

Country

Girl
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
March

November

January

December
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
nothing

fairytales

World War 2

Europe
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?
Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

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

War

Corrupt politicians

Tyrants
22 What is the passage of time metaphorically compared to?
Warfare (tanks)

A soothing balm

A fight with a loved one

A waterfall
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?
The tyrants

The dolls

The walls

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

Supporting the wrong side

Tyranny and oppression

Leaving
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?
The speaker's love for her children

Evil

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

The personified city's cowardice

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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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