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"/
Writing

Zen Buddhism

Prayer

Atheism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

The Flood

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

last poem of the last section

in the middle

epigraph
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 I

It relates to the poems in Section IV
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
21

22

20

14
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's mother

The speaker

The speaker's father

The Bull
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?
Tercets

Free verse

Couplets

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

Trochaic meter

Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
2

4

1

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to fight the bull

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

bruised blue

ocean blue

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

What it wants

If the bull will spare him

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

Entrances

Self exploration

War
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?
Divinity

Beauty

Gentleness

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

The depths

The bull's soul

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?
Rainbow

Gray and black

Warm colors

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?
War

Animal instincts

Entrances

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 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.

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.
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 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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