The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

"That child’s vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar" (Lines 12-13)

"The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes" (Line 9)

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

"My city takes me dancing..." (Line 21)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?

Paper

A wolf

Shadows

Sunlight
3 Which of the following does the speaker not have?

A passport

A paperweight

A hollow doll

A piece of paper
4 "There once was a ____... I left it as a ___."

city / November

city / child

country / hollow doll

country / child
5 Which of the following is NOT a major theme in the poem?

Religion

Memory

War

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

1983

1976

2001

1987
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?

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

"There once was a country... I left it as a child" (Line 1)

"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?

Grey

Brown

White

Earthy
9 Which of the following is NOT a metaphor in the poem?

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

"but my memory of it is sunlight-clear" (Line 2)

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

"my original view, the bright, filled paperweight" (Line 6)
10 The poem contains ____

rhree stanzas of eight 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.

four stanzas of nine lines each.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?

White Streets

Sunlight

A doll

A docile figure
12 Which of the following best describes the speaker's tone when discussing the "city of walls?"

Confronting

Docile

Calm

Threatened
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country

An expatriate

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

A person on the move
14 Which of the following is NOT a simile used in the poem?

"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)

"...docile as paper" (Line 19
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?

A grape

Tyranny

A lie

A hollow doll
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?

Colorful molecules

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

December
17 What word is used at the end of each stanza?

Girl

City

Sunlight

Country
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

December

March

November

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

fairytales

World War 2

nothing

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

Free verse

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter
21 What is the city "sick with" according to Line 7?

Corrupt politicians

Malaria

Tyrants

War
22 What is the passage of time metaphorically compared to?

A waterfall

A soothing balm

A fight with a loved one

Warfare (tanks)
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?

The dolls

The tyrants

The walls

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

Leaving

Supporting the wrong side

Tyranny and oppression

Absence and darkness
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?

Evil

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

The speaker's love for her children

The personified city's cowardice

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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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