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"/
Prayer

Atheism

Writing

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

Ten Bulls

The Gates of Paradise

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

last poem of the last section

first poem of the first section

in the middle
4 How does the poem's placement affect 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

It has no bearing on the entire collection
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
20

14

22

21
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's mother

The speaker's father

The Bull

The speaker
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?
Tercets

Free verse

Couplets

Quatrains
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Trochaic meter

Free verse

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

4

1

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He wants to escape the bull

He claims he has no choice

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
bruised blue

ocean blue

kerosene blue

night purple
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it wants

What it needs
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"
Self exploration

Reaching

Entrances

War
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
Written language only

English

No language

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

to be a murderer of childhood

to be a child

to love to play
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?
Answers

Beauty

The bull's soul

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

Cool colors

Warm colors
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
A god

Zeus

The speaker himself

The speaker's mother
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Relationship to Mother

Entrances

War

Animal instincts
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 doesn't like himself

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

He is scared of the bull
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to relate to animals

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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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