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)

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

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

"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?
Paper

Sunlight

A wolf

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

A hollow doll

A paperweight

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

country / hollow doll

country / child

city / child
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?
1976

1987

1983

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)

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

"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?
"...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)

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

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?
Sunlight

A docile figure

A doll

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

Calm

Docile

Confronting
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?
An expatriate

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country

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

A person on the move
14 Which of the following is NOT a simile used in the poem?
"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)

"...docile as paper" (Line 19

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

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

A grape

Tyranny

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

A hollow paperweight

A filled paperweight

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

Sunlight

Country

City
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
March

December

November

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
nothing

Europe

World War 2

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

Blank verse

Free verse

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

Malaria

War

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

A soothing balm

A waterfall

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

The walls

The tyrants

An unspecified "they"
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?
Evil

The speaker's love for her children

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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