Living Space Quizzes

1 What is the speaker's point of view?

first-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 observing a living space

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 ability of the inhabitants to build

The structure of poverty

The issue of food waste

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

The slums of Mumbai

The slums of Dubai

The slums of Scotland

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

The slums of Dubai

Unspecified

The slums of Scotland

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

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

There is no effect made by the setting

The setting is Scotland, which grants the reader knowledge about where the poet grew up

The lack of specificity makes the poem applicable to anywhere in the world
6 What is the problem outlined by the speaker in the first two lines?

The eggs hang out over the dark edge of a slanted universe

The whole structure leans dangerously

Nails clutch at open seams

There are not enough straight lines
7 Describe the poem's stanzas.

There are three quatrains

There are four quatrains

There are four stanzas that vary in length

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

Sonnet

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

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?

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

"As if they were / The bright, thin walls of faith"

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"

“or parallel. Beams / balance crookedly on supports”
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 two 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
12 What is the tone of the poem?

Joyful, Reflective

Assertive, Pessimistic

Acerbic, Ironic

Critical, Hopeful
13 Which is an example of personification?

Nails clutch at open seams.

Beams / Balance crookedly on supports

Someone has squeezed / A living space

Gathering the light / Into themselves,
14 What is personification?

a comparison of two things that are not the same

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

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form

repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables
15 Who or what is the protagonist?

Dharker

The speaker

The reader

The people who are determined to create a living space despite difficult circumstances
16 Who or what is the antagonist?

The poet

The building

The structure of poverty.

The mayor
17 What is the poem's major conflict?

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

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.
18 What does "parallel" mean?

lines that interact

side by side and having the same distance continuously between them

lines that cross

side by side and having an uneven distance continuously between them
19 What does "slanted" mean?

straight

bent

parallel

sloping or leaning in a particular direction
20 Which line best exhibits the architectural eye of the speaker?

"These eggs in a wire basket"

"There are just not enough / Straight lines,"

"That / Is the problem"

"Gathering the light / Into themselves,"
21 How does the poet show the resilience of the building's inhabitants?

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

By showing them cook eggs.

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

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

Courage and audacity

Troublemaking

Hope

Resilience
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 speaker

The building

The inhabitants

The eggs
25 What are eggs compared to?

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

Through a metaphor, 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.

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

Living Space

by Imtiaz Dharker

Living Space Quiz

Living Space Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Living Space