Time Is a Mother Quizzes

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

Prayer

Writing

Atheism

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?

The Flood

Ten Bulls

The Gates of Paradise

Genesis
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?

in the middle

epigraph

first poem of the first section

last poem of the last 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

14

21

20
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?

The Bull

The speaker

The speaker's father

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

looked light

swallowed him

bruised around him

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

Quatrains

Tercets

Couplets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic meter

Anapest meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

1

4

2

3
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He claims he has no choice

He wants to escape the bull

He wants to fight the bull

He becomes a matador
12 What color are the bull's eyes?

kerosene blue

night purple

ocean blue

bruised blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

What it needs

If the bull will spare him

What it wants

The speaker does not ask the bull anything
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"

Self exploration

Entrances

War

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

No language

Written language only

Vietnamese

English
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 love to play

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

Hurtfulness

Divinity

Beauty

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

The bull's soul

The depths

Answers

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

Rainbow

Gray and black

Warm colors
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?

Relationship to Mother

Entrances

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 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.

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.
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 relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

Self-realization

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