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"/
Writing

Atheism

Prayer

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Ten Bulls

The Gates of Paradise

The Flood

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

epigraph

last poem of the last section

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

It relates to the poems in Section I

It has no bearing on the entire collection

It relates to the poems in Section IV
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 speaker's mother

The speaker

The Bull

The speaker's father
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
bruised around him

looked light

purpled around him

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?
Tercets

Free verse

Quatrains

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

Trochaic meter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

4

1

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He wants to fight the bull

He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to escape the bull
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
night purple

kerosene blue

bruised blue

ocean blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
What it wants

If the bull will spare him

What it needs

The speaker does not ask the bull anything
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"
Reaching

Entrances

Self exploration

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

Written language only

English

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to love to play

to be a murderer of childhood

to be a child

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

Divinity

Hurtfulness

Gentleness
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?
The depths

Beauty

The bull's soul

Answers
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?
Warm colors

Gray and black

Cool colors

Rainbow
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
The speaker's mother

Zeus

The speaker himself

A god
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Relationship to Mother

Entrances

Animal instincts

War
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 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 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 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 want the bull to be beautiful

He doesn't like himself

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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