Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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

Atheism

Writing

Zen Buddhism

Prayer
2 What story does this poem engage with?

Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

The Flood

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

last poem of the last section

in the middle

first poem of the first section

epigraph
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

It has no bearing on the entire collection

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

14

20

22

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

The Bull

The speaker's father

The speaker's mother

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

looked light

bruised around him

purpled around him

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?

Quatrains

Couplets

Tercets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?

Anapest meter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

3

1

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?

night purple

bruised blue

ocean blue

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

What it wants

If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

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

Reaching

Self exploration

Entrances

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

Vietnamese

Written language only

No language

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

to be a child

to love to play

to be responsible to one's mother

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

Hurtfulness

Gentleness

Beauty

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

Answers

The bull's soul

The depths

Beauty
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?

Zeus

The speaker himself

A god

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 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 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 want the bull to be beautiful

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't like himself

He wants a horse instead
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