An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

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

5

4

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

simile

metaphor

allegory
3 What does "wretched" most likely mean in the context of line 6?
promiscuous

foul, disgusting

lovely and beautiful

physically appealing
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 actually robots

They are monsters

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

He is being held captive by a horde of men

A factory that he cannot escape

The confines of jail
6 What is the first kind of pain listed in this poem ("As now, as all his / flesh hurts me")?
the torture of being stuck inside your body that is not a part of who you actually are

being touched with someone that has very rough hands

jumping into a vat of acid

having a skin condition that makes skin-to-skin contact painful
7 What is the second kind of pain given in this poem ("As when she ran from me into / that forest")?
pain of abandonment and loss of love

worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

pain of the unknown

not being able to run
8 What goes "higher than even old men thought / God would be" (Stanza V)?
a bird

the mind

a helicopter

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

the devil

God

the speaker
10 What kind of literary element is "whithered yellow flowers" in Stanza V?
metaphor

simile

metonymy

hyperbole
11 How is beauty practiced in Stanza V?
through nature, like trees and a river

through pain

through poetry

through the separation between soul and body
12 What does the speaker *actually* live inside?
his home

New York City

his body

human love
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
his facial features

his height and weight

words and emotion

where he lives
14 What has no feeling in Stanza VIII?
the body

words

the soul

metal
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
everyone

the "lost soul"

the soul that is trapped inside of its body

the speaker's lover
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

Baraka's first wife, Hattie Jones

Jack Kerouac

white people
17 What kind of literary element is "blind" (Stanza V)?
hyperbole

metaphor

onomatopoeia

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

assonance

alliteration

onomatopoeia
19 What does "corrupt" most likely mean in the context of line 35?
debased/depraved

healthy

complete

together
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?
a type of bridge

a forest

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?
ritual, conformity, collectivity

religion, sacredness, awe

fear, death, destruction

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

carry him in a ritualistic procession as if preparing him for sacrifice

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

make him read lots of books and expand his mind
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
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

his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
the sky

flesh, symbolized by metal that is so hot it becomes white

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?
because it sounds cool

it creates a repetition of rhythm and speeds up the meter towards the climax of the poem; also helps the poem sound more musical

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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