Living Space Quizzes

1 What is the speaker's point of view?

first-person from the perspective of someone observing a living space

third-person from the perspective of someone observing a living space

first-person from the perspective of someone living in poverty

third-person from the perspective of someone living in poverty
2 Besides the structure of the building, what else is the speaker criticizing in the first lines of the poem?

The structure of poverty

The ability of the inhabitants to build

The issue of food waste

The lack of access to water
3 Where did Dharker state that the poem refers to?

The slums of Dubai

The slums of Lahore

The slums of Mumbai

The slums of Scotland
4 Where does the poem state that it takes place?

Unspecified

The slums of Scotland

The slums of Mumbai

The slums of Dubai
5 What is the effect of the poem's setting?

The lack of specificity makes the poem applicable to anywhere in the world

There is no effect made by the setting

The setting is Lahore, which grants the reader knowledge about where the poet was born

The setting is Scotland, which grants the reader knowledge about where the poet grew up
6 What is the problem outlined by the speaker in the first two lines?

The whole structure leans dangerously

There are not enough straight lines

Nails clutch at open seams

The eggs hang out over the dark edge of a slanted universe
7 Describe the poem's stanzas.

There are four stanzas that vary in length

There are four quatrains

There are three quatrains

There are three stanzas that vary in length
8 What is the form of the poem?

Sonnet

Iambic pentameter

Free verse

Blank verse
9 Which of the following is a simile?

"Into this rough frame, / Someone has squeezed / A living space"

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"The whole structure leans dangerously / Towards the miraculous."

"As if they were / The bright, thin walls of faith"
10 Which is an example of alliteration?

“or parallel. Beams / balance crookedly on supports”

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"The whole structure leans dangerously / Towards the miraculous."

"As if they were / The bright, thin walls of faith"
11 What is alliteration?

repetition of usually final consonant sounds in five or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in five or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually final consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables
12 What is the tone of the poem?

Assertive, Pessimistic

Critical, Hopeful

Joyful, Reflective

Acerbic, Ironic
13 Which is an example of personification?

Beams / Balance crookedly on supports

Nails clutch at open seams.

Gathering the light / Into themselves,

Someone has squeezed / A living space
14 What is personification?

a technique that involves non-human things displaying literal human traits and being capable of human behavior

a comparison of two things that are not the same

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form
15 Who or what is the protagonist?

The speaker

Dharker

The people who are determined to create a living space despite difficult circumstances

The reader
16 Who or what is the antagonist?

The mayor

The building

The poet

The structure of poverty.
17 What is the poem's major conflict?

The major conflict of the poem is that the eggs crack.

The major conflict of the poem is that the building falls down.

The major conflict of the poem is that people have no choice but to live in dangerous living conditions.

The major conflict of the poem is that the eggs could crack.
18 What does "parallel" mean?

lines that cross

side by side and having an uneven distance continuously between them

side by side and having the same distance continuously between them

lines that interact
19 What does "slanted" mean?

parallel

bent

sloping or leaning in a particular direction

straight
20 Which line best exhibits the architectural eye of the speaker?

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

"These eggs in a wire basket"

"That / Is the problem"

"There are just not enough / Straight lines,"
21 How does the poet show the resilience of the building's inhabitants?

By using the building itself and the eggs as metaphors. The inhabitants are evoked in absence.

By showing them cook eggs.

By showing what they do to rebuild their lives after the monsoon season.

By showing them building the house.
22 What does the word "dared" imply?

Courage and audacity

Resilience

Troublemaking

Hope
23 Which stanza is the shortest?

The final one to show the pressure that the inhabitants are under

The middle one to reflect how the building could fall down

They are all the same length

The middle one in order to reflect how the inhabitants squeeze life into the space
24 Who gathers the light into themselves in the poem?

The inhabitants

The speaker

The eggs

The building
25 What are eggs compared to?

Through a metaphor, they represent the inhabitants. Symbolically, they are compared to a house of faith.

Through a simile, they are compared to a house of faith. Symbolically, they represent the inhabitants.

Through a simile, they represent the inhabitants. Symbolically, they are compared to a house of faith.

Through a metaphor, they are compared to a house of faith. Symbolically, they represent the inhabitants.

Living Space

by Imtiaz Dharker

Living Space Quiz

Living Space Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Living Space