The Thing Is Quizzes

The Thing Is Quiz

1 What collection was "The Thing Is" published in?
Like a Beggar

Mules of Love

Indigo

The Human Line
2 What year did the collection in which "The Thing Is" was first published come out?
2010

2002

2018

1977
3 Which best describes what "The Thing Is" is about?
The speaker describes God like a disappointed and grieving parent.

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

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

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

Rattle Poetry Prize

Lambda Literary Award

Nobel Peace Prize
5 Which is not a theme in "The Thing Is"?
Resilience and Agency

Avoiding Grief

Loving Life

Grief and the Body
6 How does the concept of resilience appear in the poem?
The word "resilience" appears twice in quick succession.

Resilience does not appear as a concept in the poem.

The speaker argues that readers should succumb to their grief.

The speaker argues that one must choose to love life even in difficult circumstances.
7 How does Bass write about the body in "The Thing Is?"
Grief wrecks the human body and should be avoided at all cost.

The body is extremely fragile and cannot handle the weight of grief.

The human body does not appear in the poem.

Not only does experiencing grief affect various parts of the human body, but grief is given its own bodily presence in the poem.
8 How is life personified in the poem?
As a figure that sits with you.

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

As an enemy.

As tropical heat.
9 Define "violet."
A bluish-purple color

Another word for violence

A shade of red

A flower
10 Which is not a symbol in the poem?
Burnt Paper

Tropical Heat

Stomach

Lambs
11 Which best characterizes the voices in Bass's poems?
Joyful, Celebratory

Shrewd, Ironic

Bitter, Pensive

Conversational, Accessible
12 Which points of view appear in "The Thing Is"?
Third Person

Second Person

All of the perspectives

First Person
13 What is the poem's meter?
Free verse

Blank Verse

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic Tetrameter
14 Which quote contains an example of alliteration?
"and everything you’ve held dear"

"to love life, to love it even"

"Then you hold life like a face"

"crumbles like burnt paper in your hands"
15 Which quote contains an example of assonance?
"only more of it, an obesity of grief,"

"when you have no stomach for it"

"When grief sits with you, its tropical heat"

"your throat filled with the silt of it"
16 What is an example of irony in this poem?
When everything dear crumbles like burnt paper.

When grief is portrayed as tropical heat.

Bass does not use irony in this poem.

When the air of grief is more fit for gills than lungs.
17 Which best describes the tone of the poem?
Pensive, Resentful, Prideful

Optimistic, Resilient, Loving

Hopeful, Optimistic, Submissive

Bitter, Resentful, Rageful
18 Finish this quote: "when grief weights you down___"
like your own flesh

like your life

like a weight

as if you are pummeled
19 What is the poem's thesis?
One should choose to love life in any circumstances, including grief.

One should avoid grief at all cost.

One should have a charming smile to make good impressions.

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

A presence that sits with you.

A baby to be held.

An overabundance of flesh.
21 Which is an anaphora in the poem?
Then you

The thing is

I will

Thickening
22 What is personified in the poem?
Love

Grief

Grief and Life

Life
23 What does the phrase "the thing is" mean?
It is used to introduce an explanation or issue.

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

It is part of the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Denial

Nature

Transformation
25 Bass calls herself a(n) ___ poet.
fake

Instagram

praise

historical

The Thing Is Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Thing Is is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for The Thing Is

The Thing Is study guide contains a biography of Ellen Bass, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for The Thing Is…