Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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?

Ten Bulls

Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

The Flood
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?

in the middle

first poem of the first section

last poem of the last section

epigraph
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?

It relates to the poems in Section IV

It relates to the poems in Section I

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It has no bearing on the entire collection
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?

21

14

20

22
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?

The speaker's mother

The Bull

The speaker

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

bruised around him

purpled around him

swallowed him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?

Tercets

Free verse

Quatrains

Couplets
9 What is the poem's meter?

Free verse

Trochaic meter

Anapest meter

Iambic pentameter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

4

3

1

2
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He claims he has no choice

He wants to fight the bull

He wants to escape the bull

He becomes a matador
12 What color are the bull's eyes?

ocean blue

kerosene blue

bruised blue

night purple
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

What it wants
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"

Self exploration

War

Reaching

Entrances
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 responsible to one's mother

to be a murderer of childhood

to be a child

to love to play
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?

Beauty

Answers

The bull's soul

The depths
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

Rainbow

Gray and black

Cool colors
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?

Zeus

The speaker himself

A god

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

Relationship to Mother

Entrances

War

Animal instincts
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 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 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 the bull and kills him.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?

He wants a horse instead

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He doesn't like himself
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?

Learning how to meditate

Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

Time Is a Mother

by Ocean Vuong

Time Is a Mother Quiz: "The Bull"

Time Is a Mother Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Time Is a Mother