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)

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

"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?

Paper

A wolf

Shadows

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

A paperweight

A hollow doll

A passport

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

country / child

city / child

city / November

country / hollow doll
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?

1983

1976

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

Grey

Brown

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

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

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

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

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

four stanzas of nine lines each.

rhree stanzas, with the first two containing nine lines and the final stanza containing eight lines.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?

Sunlight

White Streets

A docile figure

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

Calm

Threatened

Docile

Confronting
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 on the move

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

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

"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

Tyranny

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

A hollow paperweight

December

A filled paperweight

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

Girl

Sunlight

City

Country
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?

December

March

November

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.

Europe

fairytales

World War 2

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

Iambic pentameter

Iambic tetrameter

Blank verse

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

Malaria

Tyrants

Corrupt politicians

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?

An unspecified "they"

The tyrants

The dolls

The walls
24 What is the speaker accused of?

Supporting the wrong side

Leaving

Absence and darkness

Tyranny and oppression
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

The speaker's love for her children

Evil

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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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