The Émigrée Quizzes

The Émigrée Quiz

1 Which of the following is an example of personification?

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

"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)
2 Which of the following is NOT a motif or symbol used in the poem?

A wolf

Shadows

Sunlight

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

A hollow doll

A piece of paper

A paperweight

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

country / hollow doll

city / child

country / child

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

War

Language

Memory

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

1987

2001

1976

1983
7 Which of the following is an example of caesura?

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

"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)

"I comb its hair and love its shining eyes" (Line 20)
8 Which color is used to describe the streets of the city?

White

Grey

Brown

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

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

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

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

"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)
10 The poem contains ____

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

rhree stanzas of eight lines each.

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

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

White Streets

Sunlight

A docile figure

A doll
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?

A person on the move

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

An expatriate
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)

"...docile as paper" (Line 19

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

December

A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

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

City

Country

Sunlight

Girl
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

November

March

January

December
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

fairytales

World War 2

Europe

nothing
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?

Iambic tetrameter

Blank verse

Iambic pentameter

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

Corrupt politicians

Tyrants

Malaria

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

A waterfall

Warfare (tanks)

A soothing balm

A fight with a loved one
23 Who or what accuses the speaker?

The dolls

The walls

The tyrants

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

Tyranny and oppression

Supporting the wrong side

Absence and darkness

Leaving
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?

The personified city's cowardice

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

Evil

The speaker's love for her children

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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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