The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

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

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

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

"It may by now be a lie, banned by the state" (Line 15)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?

A wolf

Sunlight

Shadows

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

A paperweight

A piece of paper

A passport

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

city / November

city / child

country / child

country / hollow doll
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

1987

1983

2001
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?

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

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

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

"They accuse me of being dark in their free city" (Line 23)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?

Brown

Grey

Earthy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

four stanzas of nine lines each.

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

Sunlight

A doll

White Streets

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

Docile

Calm

Confronting

Threatened
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?

An expatriate

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

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country

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

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

"...docile as paper" (Line 19

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

"That child's vocabulary I carried here / like a hollow doll" (Lines 12-13)
15 What is the speaker's childhood vocabulary compared to?

A lie

A grape

A hollow doll

Tyranny
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

Colorful molecules

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

Girl

Country

City

Sunlight
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

November

January

March

December
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

World War 2

nothing

fairytales

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

Iambic pentameter

Blank verse

Iambic tetrameter

Free verse
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?

Warfare (tanks)

A waterfall

A fight with a loved one

A soothing balm
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?

The tyrants

An unspecified "they"

The dolls

The walls
24 What is the speaker accused of?

Tyranny and oppression

Absence and darkness

Supporting the wrong side

Leaving
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?

The personified city's cowardice

Evil

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

The speaker's love for her children

The Émigrée Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Émigrée is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

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.

Read the Study Guide for The Émigrée…