Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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

Prayer

Zen Buddhism

Atheism

Writing
2 What story does this poem engage with?

Genesis

The Flood

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?

last poem of the last section

epigraph

in the middle

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

It has no bearing on 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
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's father

The speaker's mother

The speaker

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

purpled around him

swallowed him

looked light

bruised around him
8 What is the poem's form?

Couplets

Quatrains

Tercets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Anapest meter

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

3

2

4

1
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?

night purple

kerosene blue

ocean blue

bruised blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

If the bull will spare him

What it wants

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

Entrances

Self exploration

Reaching

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

English

No language

Vietnamese

Written language only
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 love to play

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

Divinity

Gentleness

Beauty

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

The bull's soul

Beauty

Answers

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?

Cool colors

Gray and black

Warm colors

Rainbow
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?

The speaker himself

A god

Zeus

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

Relationship to Mother

Animal instincts

Entrances

War
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 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.

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.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?

He wants a horse instead

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't like himself

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

Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to meditate

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