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"/
Zen Buddhism

Writing

Prayer

Atheism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
The Flood

Genesis

Ten Bulls

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

in the middle

epigraph

first poem of the first section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
It has no bearing on the entire collection

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section IV

It relates to the poems in Section I
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
20

14

21

22
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's father

The speaker's mother

The Bull

The speaker
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?
Quatrains

Couplets

Tercets

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

Free verse

Anapest meter

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
1

4

2

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?
If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it needs

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

Entrances

Reaching

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

Written language only

Vietnamese

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be a child

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

Hurtfulness

Divinity

Beauty
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"?
&

this conjunction does not appear in this poem

and

+
20 What is the poem's color palette?
Rainbow

Warm colors

Cool colors

Gray and black
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
The speaker's mother

Zeus

A god

The speaker himself
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Relationship to Mother

War

Entrances

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 the bull and kills him.

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.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He wants a horse instead

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't like himself
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to meditate

Learning how to relate to animals

Eschewing attachment

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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