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

Writing

Zen Buddhism

Prayer
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?
first poem of the first section

last poem of the last section

epigraph

in the middle
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
It relates to the poems in Section IV

It has no bearing on the entire collection

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section I
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__"
swallowed him

bruised around him

purpled around him

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

Couplets

Quatrains

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Trochaic meter

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

1

4

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

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull

He claims he has no choice
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
kerosene blue

night purple

ocean blue

bruised blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

If the bull will spare him

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

War

Self exploration

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

English

Written language only

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to love to play

to be a child

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?
Gentleness

Divinity

Beauty

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

The bull's soul

Beauty

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?
Cool colors

Rainbow

Warm colors

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

Zeus

The speaker's mother

The speaker himself
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Entrances

Relationship to Mother

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 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.

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

He is scared of the bull

He wants a horse instead

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

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to meditate

Self-realization

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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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