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"/
Atheism

Writing

Zen Buddhism

Prayer
2 What story does this poem engage with?
The Gates of Paradise

Genesis

Ten Bulls

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

epigraph

in the middle

last poem of the last section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
It has no bearing on the entire collection

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section IV

It relates to the poems in Section I
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
20

14

21

22
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's mother

The Bull

The speaker's father

The speaker
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
purpled around him

swallowed him

looked light

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

Tercets

Couplets

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

Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

4

1

2
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull

He wants to escape the bull

He claims he has no choice
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
ocean blue

bruised blue

night purple

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
What it needs

If the bull will spare him

What it wants

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

Entrances

War

Reaching
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
Written language only

Vietnamese

English

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a murderer of childhood

to be a child

to love to play

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

Divinity

Hurtfulness

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

The bull's soul

Beauty

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?
Gray and black

Cool colors

Rainbow

Warm colors
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?
War

Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother

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 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 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 freedom.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He doesn't like himself

He wants a horse instead

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

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

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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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