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)

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

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

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

A wolf

Shadows

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

A paperweight

A piece of paper

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

city / November

country / child

country / hollow doll
5 Which of the following is NOT a major theme in the poem?
War

Memory

Language

Religion
6 In what year was "The Émigrée" published?
2001

1987

1983

1976
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?
White

Grey

Earthy

Brown
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.

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?
A doll

A docile figure

Sunlight

White Streets
12 Which of the following best describes the speaker's tone when discussing the "city of walls?"
Docile

Confronting

Threatened

Calm
13 What is the definition of an émigrée?
An expatriate

A person on the move

A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country

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

A grape
16 Which of the following is used to describe language?
A filled paperweight

A hollow paperweight

December

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

Girl

Sunlight

City
18 Which month is referenced in the poem?
November

March

January

December
19 The opening line alludes to ___.
nothing

World War 2

Europe

fairytales
20 Which of the following best describes the poem's meter?
Blank verse

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

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

Corrupt politicians

Malaria

Tyrants
22 What is the passage of time metaphorically compared to?
A fight with a loved one

Warfare (tanks)

A waterfall

A soothing balm
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

Absence and darkness

Tyranny and oppression
25 What does the speaker's shadow symbolize?
The personified city's cowardice

The speaker's love for her children

Evil

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

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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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