Time Is a Mother Quizzes

1 What personal practice of Vuong's is especially relevant to the poem "The Bull"/

Zen Buddhism

Writing

Atheism

Prayer
2 What story does this poem engage with?

The Flood

Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?

first poem of the first section

last poem of the last section

in the middle

epigraph
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?

It relates to the poems in Section IV

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It has no bearing on the entire collection

It relates to the poems in Section I
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?

21

22

14

20
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?

The speaker's father

The speaker

The Bull

The speaker's mother
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"

purpled around him

bruised around him

looked light

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?

Free verse

Couplets

Tercets

Quatrains
9 What is the poem's meter?

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic meter

Anapest meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?

4

3

1

2
11 Why does the speaker step outside?

He wants to escape the bull

He claims he has no choice

He becomes a matador

He wants to fight the bull
12 What color are the bull's eyes?

night purple

bruised blue

ocean blue

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?

What it needs

If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

What it wants
14 Which of the following does not appear in "The Bull?"

War

Self exploration

Reaching

Entrances
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?

English

No language

Written language only

Vietnamese
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a murderer of childhood

to love to play

to be a child
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?

Hurtfulness

Beauty

Divinity

Gentleness
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?

Beauty

The bull's soul

Answers

The depths
19 How does the poet write out the conjunction "and"?

&

and

this conjunction does not appear in this poem

+
20 What is the poem's color palette?

Warm colors

Rainbow

Gray and black

Cool colors
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?

A god

Zeus

The speaker himself

The speaker's mother
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?

Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother

Entrances

War
23 How does "The Bull" relate to the final poem in the collection?

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents his mother. In the last poem, he finds the bull and kills him.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds freedom.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds his mother in the afterlife.

In "The Bull," the speaker reaches toward an animal-shaped entrance that represents himself. In the last poem, he finds the bull and kills him.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't like himself
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?

Self-realization

Learning how to meditate

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to relate to animals

Time Is a Mother

by Ocean Vuong

Time Is a Mother Quiz: "The Bull"

Time Is a Mother Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Time Is a Mother