The Thing Is Quizzes

The Thing Is Quiz

1 What collection was "The Thing Is" published in?

Indigo

Mules of Love

The Human Line

Like a Beggar
2 What year did the collection in which "The Thing Is" was first published come out?

2002

2018

2010

1977
3 Which best describes what "The Thing Is" is about?

The speaker holds her despair the way she held her babies when they were young.

The speaker instructs readers to love life even amidst the difficult heaviness of grief.

The speaker describes God like a disappointed and grieving parent.

The speaker tells her lover to bring over her pain.
4 What award did Mules of Love receive?

Nobel Peace Prize

Lambda Literary Award

Rattle Poetry Prize

Pulitzer Prize
5 Which is not a theme in "The Thing Is"?

Avoiding Grief

Grief and the Body

Resilience and Agency

Loving Life
6 How does the concept of resilience appear in the poem?

The word "resilience" appears twice in quick succession.

The speaker argues that one must choose to love life even in difficult circumstances.

Resilience does not appear as a concept in the poem.

The speaker argues that readers should succumb to their grief.
7 How does Bass write about the body in "The Thing Is?"

Not only does experiencing grief affect various parts of the human body, but grief is given its own bodily presence in the poem.

Grief wrecks the human body and should be avoided at all cost.

The human body does not appear in the poem.

The body is extremely fragile and cannot handle the weight of grief.
8 How is life personified in the poem?

As an enemy.

As having a "plain face" with "no charming smile" or "violet eyes."

As tropical heat.

As a figure that sits with you.
9 Define "violet."

A flower

Another word for violence

A bluish-purple color

A shade of red
10 Which is not a symbol in the poem?

Stomach

Lambs

Burnt Paper

Tropical Heat
11 Which best characterizes the voices in Bass's poems?

Shrewd, Ironic

Bitter, Pensive

Conversational, Accessible

Joyful, Celebratory
12 Which points of view appear in "The Thing Is"?

Second Person

Third Person

All of the perspectives

First Person
13 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic Pentameter

Free verse

Blank Verse

Iambic Tetrameter
14 Which quote contains an example of alliteration?

"crumbles like burnt paper in your hands"

"Then you hold life like a face"

"to love life, to love it even"

"and everything you’ve held dear"
15 Which quote contains an example of assonance?

"When grief sits with you, its tropical heat"

"only more of it, an obesity of grief,"

"when you have no stomach for it"

"your throat filled with the silt of it"
16 What is an example of irony in this poem?

When grief is portrayed as tropical heat.

When the air of grief is more fit for gills than lungs.

When everything dear crumbles like burnt paper.

Bass does not use irony in this poem.
17 Which best describes the tone of the poem?

Bitter, Resentful, Rageful

Pensive, Resentful, Prideful

Optimistic, Resilient, Loving

Hopeful, Optimistic, Submissive
18 Finish this quote: "when grief weights you down___"

as if you are pummeled

like your life

like your own flesh

like a weight
19 What is the poem's thesis?

One should have a charming smile to make good impressions.

One should avoid grief at all cost.

One should choose to love life in any circumstances, including grief.

One should hold grief like the face of a lover.
20 Which is one way that grief is not characterized?

A baby to be held.

Tropical heat.

An overabundance of flesh.

A presence that sits with you.
21 Which is an anaphora in the poem?

The thing is

I will

Then you

Thickening
22 What is personified in the poem?

Grief

Grief and Life

Love

Life
23 What does the phrase "the thing is" mean?

It is part of the Pledge of Allegiance.

It is used in the court of law to introduce a case.

It is used to introduce an explanation or issue.

It is used in formal settings.
24 What is something that Bass has expressed is important to her in terms of her poetic craft?

Despair

Transformation

Denial

Nature
25 Bass calls herself a(n) ___ poet.

fake

Instagram

praise

historical

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