Time Is a Mother Quizzes

Time Is a Mother Quiz: "The Bull"

1 What personal practice of Vuong's is especially relevant to the poem "The Bull"/
Zen Buddhism

Writing

Prayer

Atheism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

Ten Bulls

The Gates of Paradise

The Flood
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?
first poem of the first section

epigraph

last poem of the last section

in the middle
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It has no bearing on the entire collection

It relates to the poems in Section I

It relates to the poems in Section IV
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
22

20

14

21
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's mother

The speaker

The speaker's father

The Bull
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
bruised around him

swallowed him

purpled around him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?
Free verse

Quatrains

Tercets

Couplets
9 What is the poem's meter?
Anapest meter

Trochaic meter

Iambic pentameter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

4

1

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to escape the bull

He wants to fight the bull
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
bruised blue

ocean blue

night purple

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

What it wants

If the bull will spare him
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"
War

Self exploration

Reaching

Entrances
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
Vietnamese

English

Written language only

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be responsible to one's mother

to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be a child
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Beauty

Gentleness

Hurtfulness

Divinity
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?
Answers

The depths

Beauty

The bull's soul
19 How does the poet write out the conjunction "and"?
&

this conjunction does not appear in this poem

+

and
20 What is the poem's color palette?
Cool colors

Rainbow

Warm colors

Gray and black
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
A god

The speaker himself

The speaker's mother

Zeus
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
War

Relationship to Mother

Animal instincts

Entrances
23 How does "The Bull" relate to the final poem in the collection?
In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds freedom.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents his mother. In the last poem, he finds the bull and kills him.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds his mother in the afterlife.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds the bull and kills him.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

He doesn't like himself
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

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Time Is a Mother study guide contains a biography of Ocean Vuong, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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