The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?
"The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes" (Line 9)

"My city takes me dancing..." (Line 21)

"It may by now be a lie, banned by the state" (Line 15)

"That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar" (Lines 12-13)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?
Sunlight

Paper

Shadows

A wolf
3 Which of the following does the speaker not have?
A passport

A piece of paper

A paperweight

A hollow doll
4 "There once was a ____... I left it as a ___."
country / child

country / hollow doll

city / child

city / November
5 Which of the following is NOT a major theme in the poem?
Memory

Religion

War

Language
6 In what year was "The Émigrée" published?
1976

1983

1987

2001
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?
"There once was a country... I left it as a child" (Line 1)

"I comb its hair and love its shining eyes" (Line 20)

"They accuse me of being dark in their free city" (Line 23)

"That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?
Earthy

White

Grey

Brown
9 Which of the following is NOT a metaphor in the poem?
"but my memory of it is sunlight-clear" (Line 2)

"my original view, the bright, filled paperweight" (Line 6)

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)

"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)
10 The poem contains ____
four stanzas of nine lines each.

Tthree stanzas, with the first two containing eight lines and the final one containing nine lines.

rhree stanzas, with the first two containing nine lines and the final stanza containing eight lines.

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?
A doll

Sunlight

A docile figure

White Streets
12 Which of the following best describes the speaker's tone when discussing the "city of walls?"
Calm

Confronting

Threatened

Docile
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?
A person on the move

A person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons

An expatriate

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country
14 Which of the following is NOT a simile used in the poem?
"...docile as paper" (Line 19

"That child's vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)

"...as time rolls its tanks" (Line 10)

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?
A grape

Tyranny

A hollow doll

A lie
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?
Colorful molecules

December

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight
17 What word is used at the end of each stanza?
City

Country

Girl

Sunlight
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
December

November

March

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
World War 2

nothing

fairytales

Europe
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?
Iambic tetrameter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse
21 What is the city "sick with" according to Line 7?
Malaria

Corrupt politicians

Tyrants

War
22 What is the passage of time metaphorically compared to?
Warfare (tanks)

A waterfall

A fight with a loved one

A soothing balm
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?
The walls

The dolls

The tyrants

An unspecified "they"
24 What is the speaker accused of?
Tyranny and oppression

Leaving

Absence and darkness

Supporting the wrong side
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?
Evil

The speaker's love for her children

The personified city's cowardice

Even her own darkness is a symbol of her sunlit impression of her country

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Study Guide for The Émigrée

The Emigrée study guide contains a biography of Patricia Aakhus, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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