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?
Shadows

Sunlight

A wolf

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

A passport

A piece of paper

A hollow doll
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?
Religion

Language

War

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

1983

2001

1987
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)

"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?
White

Grey

Earthy

Brown
9 Which of the following is NOT a metaphor in the poem?
"and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves" (Line 11)

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

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

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

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.
11 Which of the following is NOT used to describe the city?
White Streets

A docile figure

Sunlight

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

Docile

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?
"...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 hollow doll

Tyranny

A grape

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

December

A hollow paperweight

A filled paperweight
17 What word is used at the end of each stanza?
Girl

City

Sunlight

Country
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
November

March

December

January
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
nothing

Europe

fairytales

World War 2
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

Tyrants

War

Malaria
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 walls

An unspecified "they"

The dolls

The tyrants
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?
Even her own darkness is a symbol of her sunlit impression of her country

The personified city's cowardice

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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