Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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?

Ten Bulls

Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

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

last poem of the last section

in the middle

epigraph

first poem of the first 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

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

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

20

22

21

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__"

purpled around him

looked light

bruised around him

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?

Couplets

Tercets

Quatrains

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter

Trochaic meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

2

1

4

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull

He claims he has no choice

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

kerosene blue

night purple

bruised blue

ocean blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

What it needs

What it wants

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

If the bull will spare him
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"

Entrances

War

Reaching

Self exploration
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?

Vietnamese

No language

Written language only

English
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 responsible to one's mother

to be a child
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

Beauty

The bull's soul

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?

Gray and black

Warm colors

Rainbow

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

The speaker's mother

A god

Zeus

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

Entrances

Animal instincts

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 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 is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

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

Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

Self-realization

Learning how to meditate

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