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

Genesis

Ten Bulls

The Flood
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 relates to the poems in Section I

It has no bearing on the entire collection

It relates to the poems in Section IV

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
22

21

14

20
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's mother

The speaker's father

The speaker

The Bull
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
bruised around him

swallowed him

purpled around him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?
Couplets

Tercets

Free verse

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

Anapest meter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
1

3

4

2
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

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?"
Entrances

Self exploration

War

Reaching
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
No language

Vietnamese

English

Written language only
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be a child

to be responsible to one's mother
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Divinity

Hurtfulness

Beauty

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

The bull's soul

The depths

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

Cool colors

Gray and black

Warm 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?
Animal instincts

Entrances

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 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 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.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He doesn't like himself

He wants a horse instead

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Self-realization

Learning how to meditate

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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