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?
The Gates of Paradise

The Flood

Genesis

Ten Bulls
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 has no bearing on 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
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
14

20

21

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

The speaker

The Bull

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

purpled around him

bruised around him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?
Free verse

Couplets

Tercets

Quatrains
9 What is the poem's meter?
Trochaic meter

Anapest meter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

3

4

1
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He wants to fight the bull

He wants to escape the bull

He claims he has no choice

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

kerosene blue

ocean blue

bruised blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

What it wants

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

War

Entrances

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

English

No language

Written language only
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be responsible to one's mother

to love to play

to be a murderer of childhood

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

Hurtfulness

Gentleness

Beauty
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?
The bull's soul

The depths

Beauty

Answers
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

Cool colors

Rainbow

Gray and black
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?
Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother

Entrances

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

He is scared of the bull

He wants a horse instead

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

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

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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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