Time Is a Mother Quizzes

1 What personal practice of Vuong's is especially relevant to the poem "The Bull"/

Writing

Atheism

Prayer

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?

The Flood

Ten Bulls

Genesis

The Gates of Paradise
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 relates to the poems in Section I

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section IV

It has no bearing on the entire collection
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?

22

20

14

21
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?

The speaker

The speaker's father

The Bull

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

swallowed him

bruised around him

purpled around him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?

Free verse

Tercets

Quatrains

Couplets
9 What is the poem's meter?

Anapest meter

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

1

4

2

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He claims he has no choice

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull

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

kerosene blue

bruised blue

ocean blue

night purple
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?"

War

Self exploration

Entrances

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

No language

English

Written language only

Vietnamese
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?

to love to play

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a child

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

Gentleness

Hurtfulness

Divinity

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

Rainbow

Warm colors

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

The speaker's mother

The speaker himself

A god

Zeus
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?

War

Entrances

Animal instincts

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 doesn't like himself

He wants a horse instead

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He is scared of the bull
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

Learning how to relate to animals

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