On the Pulse of Morning Quizzes

On the Pulse of Morning Quiz

1 For whose presidential inauguration did Angelou write this work?
Barack Obama

Bill Clinton

Jimmy Carter

John F. Kennedy
2 How many stanzas are in the poem?
21

3

13

8
3 What is the work's rhyme scheme?
ABABAB

It has no rhyme scheme

AABBCC

ABBA CDDC
4 What does the mention of "a bordered country" suggest?
Harmful immigration policies

The mystery of the past

Emotional isolation

Exciting secrecy
5 Which does NOT describe the work's tone?
Imploring

Angry

Hopeful

Thoughtful
6 Which is a central argument of this poem?
That history must be bravely faced

That democracy is a fragile institution

That free speech is both dangerous and necessary

That history must be forgotten
7 Who is the speaker?
An array of immigrants arriving to America

A recently freed slave

A small child

The speaker is a fluid, omnipotent-seeming entity
8 What is the poem's meter?
Free verse

Dactylic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

It is written in iambs, but the number of feet varies
9 Where does the poem take place?
America

Washington, D.C.

California in the Gold Rush

New Orleans
10 Which of the following is an argument of the poem?
That Americans must travel their country to speak to one another

That colonialism is ongoing throughout America's territories abroad

That every region of the United States is equally important in different ways

That interpersonal and environmental destruction go hand-in-hand
11 Which prehistoric animal is alluded to in this work?
Single-celled amoeba

Mastodon

Wooly mammoth

Pterodactyl
12 In which year was this poem first performed?
1964

1993

2012

2009
13 What is meant by the word "hastening"?
Storming

Speeding up

A type of seasoning

Awkward
14 What is meant by the word "sojourn"?
Temporary dwelling

Summertime

Folk song common in the U.S.

Presidential term
15 What is a mendicant?
A seamstress

A farmer

A beggar

A doctor
16 How does the poem's speaker exemplify the theme of unity?
By leading call-and-response chants to bring an audience together

By offering itself up for the good of the nation

By serving as a shared voice for a variety of different beings and entities

By describing how it forgives and embraces its oppressors
17 What type of stanzas comprise this poem?
Couplets

Tercets

The poem has no single stanza type

Sextets
18 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for cynicism?
A garden

A shield

A telephone

A wound
19 Which can best be described as the poem's antagonist?
Mastodons

Human brutality

The neighbor

The speaker
20 Who has NOT read a poem at a presidential inauguration?
Robert Frost

Amanda Gorman

Langston Hughes

Elizabeth Alexander
21 Which of the following is used as a metaphor for producing a dream?
Writing a poem

Cooking a meal

Giving birth

An assembly line
22 The line “Rock, the River, the Tree, your country," includes which of the following?
Assonant A sounds

Alliterative R sounds

Alliterative T sounds

Assonant OU sounds
23 How does Angelou emphasize the links between Midas, the mastodon, and the mendicant?
Through rhyme

Through alliteration

Through assonance

Through onomatopoeia
24 What does morning symbolize?
Solitude

Hard work

Clarity

A fresh start
25 What does "Midas" allude to?
A Native American tribe

An early African American poet

A mythological king

An American founding father

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Study Guide for On the Pulse of Morning

On the Pulse of Morning study guide contains a biography of Maya Angelou, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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