An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

1 How many different kinds of pain are listed in this poem?
2

4

5

3
2 What kind of literary element is "fouled tunes" (line 4)?
comparison

metaphor

allegory

simile
3 What does "wretched" most likely mean in the context of line 6?
physically appealing

lovely and beautiful

foul, disgusting

promiscuous
4 What does Baraka mean by "without shadow, or voice, or meaning" when referring to the "hard flesh" that he touches in Stanza II?
He is interacting with their flesh but has no contact with their souls

They are monsters

They are actually robots

They are dead bodies
5 What traps the speaker of the poem?
His own flesh, which is made into an object by society

The confines of jail

He is being held captive by a horde of men

A factory that he cannot escape
6 What is the first kind of pain listed in this poem ("As now, as all his / flesh hurts me")?
having a skin condition that makes skin-to-skin contact painful

the torture of being stuck inside your body that is not a part of who you actually are

jumping into a vat of acid

being touched with someone that has very rough hands
7 What is the second kind of pain given in this poem ("As when she ran from me into / that forest")?
pain of the unknown

worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

not being able to run

pain of abandonment and loss of love
8 What goes "higher than even old men thought / God would be" (Stanza V)?
a helicopter

the mind

a bird

the devil
9 Who turns out to be a "self, after all" (Stanza VI)?
the devil

the speaker

God

the "lost soul"
10 What kind of literary element is "whithered yellow flowers" in Stanza V?
metonymy

metaphor

simile

hyperbole
11 How is beauty practiced in Stanza V?
through poetry

through the separation between soul and body

through nature, like trees and a river

through pain
12 What does the speaker *actually* live inside?
his body

New York City

human love

his home
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
his height and weight

his facial features

where he lives

words and emotion
14 What has no feeling in Stanza VIII?
metal

the body

the soul

words
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
the soul that is trapped inside of its body

the speaker's lover

everyone

the "lost soul"
16 Based on textual evidence, who could be the "lost soul" the speaker refers to in Stanza V?
the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

white people

Jack Kerouac

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones
17 What kind of literary element is "blind" (Stanza V)?
hyperbole

simile

metaphor

onomatopoeia
18 What kind of literary device is used in "silver, spiraled, whirled" (Stanza V)?
assonance

onomatopoeia

metonymy

alliteration
19 What does "corrupt" most likely mean in the context of line 35?
healthy

debased/depraved

together

complete
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?
a forest

a type of bridge

a courtyard

a windy place
21 What kind of associations come up with the actions of "the cold men in their gale" in Stanza VI?
religion, sacredness, awe

ritual, conformity, collectivity

fear, death, destruction

harmony, unity, peace
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
kill him

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

make him read lots of books and expand his mind

carry him in a ritualistic procession as if preparing him for sacrifice
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

bodies are very beautiful and often the skin looks like a work of art

someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
flesh, symbolized by metal that is so hot it becomes white

the sky

God

the gale that the cold men are living in
25 Why might have Baraka chosen to repeat "the yes" the times in Stanzas V-VI?
it creates a repetition of rhythm and speeds up the meter towards the climax of the poem; also helps the poem sound more musical

because it sounds cool

to bring up different kinds of "yes"

to really emphasize what he is referring to

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An Agony. As Now study guide contains a biography of Imamu Amiri Baraka, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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