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"/
Writing

Atheism

Prayer

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Ten Bulls

Genesis

The Flood

The Gates of Paradise
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?
first poem of the first section

epigraph

in the middle

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

It relates to the poems in Section I

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?
20

22

14

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

The speaker's mother

The speaker

The speaker's father
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?
Tercets

Quatrains

Free verse

Couplets
9 What is the poem's meter?
Anapest meter

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

2

1

4
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He wants to escape the bull

He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to fight 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?
If the bull will spare him

What it wants

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

War

Entrances
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
No language

English

Vietnamese

Written language only
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a child

to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be responsible to one's mother
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Hurtfulness

Gentleness

Divinity

Beauty
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?
The bull's soul

Answers

Beauty

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?
Rainbow

Gray and black

Cool colors

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?
Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother

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 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.

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 wants a horse instead

He doesn't like himself

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He is scared of the bull
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

Self-realization

Learning how to meditate

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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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