An Agony. As Now Quizzes

An Agony. As Now Quiz

1 How many different kinds of pain are listed in this poem?
4

2

5

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

comparison

metaphor

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

foul, disgusting

lovely and beautiful

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?
They are monsters

They are dead bodies

He is interacting with their flesh but has no contact with their souls

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

A factory that he cannot escape

He is being held captive by a horde of men

The confines of jail
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

being touched with someone that has very rough hands

jumping into a vat of acid

the torture of being stuck inside your body that is not a part of who you actually are
7 What is the second kind of pain given in this poem ("As when she ran from me into / that forest")?
worry that she will be eaten by monsters in the forest

pain of abandonment and loss of love

pain of the unknown

not being able to run
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 speaker

God

the devil

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

hyperbole

simile

metonymy
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

his home

human love

New York City
13 What can the speaker be recognized as?
where he lives

his height and weight

his facial features

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

metal

words

the soul
15 What is left screaming by the end of the poem?
the speaker's lover

the soul that is trapped inside of its body

the "lost soul"

everyone
16 Based on textual evidence, who could be the "lost soul" the speaker refers to in Stanza V?
white people

the person the speaker abandoned in a past life

Jack Kerouac

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

hyperbole

onomatopoeia

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

assonance

onomatopoeia

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

complete

together

healthy
20 What is the closest definition of "gale" in the context of Stanza VI?
a windy place

a courtyard

a type of bridge

a forest
21 What kind of associations come up with the actions of "the cold men in their gale" in Stanza VI?
harmony, unity, peace

fear, death, destruction

ritual, conformity, collectivity

religion, sacredness, awe
22 In other words, what do the speaker's enemies do to him in Stanza III?
make him read lots of books and expand his mind

offer him the tools necessary to have a successful life

kill him

carry him in a ritualistic procession as if preparing him for sacrifice
23 Why does the speaker call flesh "an abstraction" is Stanza III?
someone's flesh is often obstructed by clothing

his flesh has been cut up and deformed through torture

any perception of the body is influenced by societal conventions

bodies are very beautiful and often the skin looks like a work of art
24 What "glows as the day with its sun" (Stanza VII)?
God

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

the sky

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?
to bring up different kinds of "yes"

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 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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