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

Zen Buddhism

Writing

Atheism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls

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

epigraph

first poem of the first section

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?
14

21

20

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

The speaker's mother

The speaker

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

purpled around him

swallowed him

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

Free verse

Tercets

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

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
1

2

3

4
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He claims he has no choice

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull

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

night purple

kerosene blue

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

If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs
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?
English

Vietnamese

No language

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

to be a child

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a murderer of childhood
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Divinity

Hurtfulness

Beauty

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

The bull's soul

Answers

The depths
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

Gray and black

Rainbow

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

The speaker's mother

A god

The speaker himself
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Animal instincts

Entrances

War

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 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.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds freedom.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He doesn't like himself

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Eschewing attachment

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

Learning how to relate to animals

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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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