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"/
Prayer

Atheism

Writing

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

The Flood

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?
in the middle

first poem of the first section

epigraph

last poem of the last section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
It relates to the poems in Section IV

It has no bearing on the entire collection

It relates to the poems in Section I

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
21

14

22

20
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The Bull

The speaker's father

The speaker

The speaker's mother
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
looked light

bruised around him

swallowed him

purpled around him
8 What is the poem's form?
Quatrains

Tercets

Couplets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?
Trochaic meter

Anapest meter

Iambic pentameter

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

1

3

4
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to fight the bull

He wants to escape the bull
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
kerosene blue

ocean blue

bruised blue

night purple
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
What it wants

What it needs

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

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

War

Entrances

Reaching
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
No language

Vietnamese

English

Written language only
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a child

to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be responsible to one's mother
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Hurtfulness

Divinity

Beauty

Gentleness
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"?
and

+

&

this conjunction does not appear in this poem
20 What is the poem's color palette?
Warm colors

Cool colors

Rainbow

Gray and black
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
The speaker himself

Zeus

A god

The speaker's mother
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Animal instincts

War

Entrances

Relationship to Mother
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 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 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.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He wants a horse instead

He doesn't like himself

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He is scared of the bull
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

Self-realization

Learning how to meditate

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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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