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

Prayer

Zen Buddhism

Writing
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?
last poem of the last section

first poem of the first section

epigraph

in the middle
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?
21

20

22

14
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__"
swallowed him

bruised around him

looked light

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

Couplets

Tercets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter

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 wants to fight the bull

He becomes a matador

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?
The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

If the bull will spare him

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

War

Entrances

Self exploration
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 be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a child
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?
The depths

Answers

The bull's soul

Beauty
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?
Gray and black

Rainbow

Warm colors

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

A god

Zeus

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

Relationship to Mother

Animal instincts

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 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 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.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He doesn't like himself

He is scared of the bull

He wants a horse instead

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

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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