Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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

Zen Buddhism

Atheism

Prayer

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?

last poem of the last section

in the middle

epigraph

first poem of the first section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?

It relates to the poems in Section I

It relates to the poems in Section IV

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?

22

20

21

14
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__"

looked light

purpled around him

bruised around him

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?

Couplets

Quatrains

Tercets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?

Free verse

Trochaic meter

Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

1

3

2

4
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He claims he has no choice

He wants to escape the bull

He becomes a matador

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

ocean blue

night purple

kerosene blue

bruised blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it wants

What it needs

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

War

Self exploration

Reaching

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

English

Written language only

No language

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

to be a child

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?

Gentleness

Hurtfulness

Beauty

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

Beauty

Answers

The bull's soul

The depths
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

Warm colors

Cool colors

Gray and black
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?

The speaker himself

The speaker's mother

A god

Zeus
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?

War

Relationship to Mother

Animal instincts

Entrances
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 want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

He doesn't like himself

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

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

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