Time Is a Mother Quizzes

Time Is a Mother Quiz: "The Bull"

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

Prayer

Writing

Atheism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
The Flood

Ten Bulls

The Gates of Paradise

Genesis
3 Where does "The Bull" appear in the collection?
epigraph

first poem of the first section

in the middle

last poem of the last section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section IV

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?
22

21

20

14
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The Bull

The speaker's father

The speaker's mother

The speaker
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
swallowed him

purpled around him

looked light

bruised around him
8 What is the poem's form?
Free verse

Tercets

Quatrains

Couplets
9 What is the poem's meter?
Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter

Trochaic meter

Free verse
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

1

2

4
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He becomes a matador

He claims he has no choice

He wants to escape the bull

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

night purple

kerosene blue

ocean blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
The speaker does not ask the bull anything

If the bull will spare him

What it wants

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

War

Entrances

Self exploration
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
English

Written language only

Vietnamese

No language
16 According to the speaker, what does it mean to be a boy?
to be a murderer of childhood

to be responsible to one's mother

to be a child

to love to play
17 What quality of the bull's does the speaker focus on?
Gentleness

Beauty

Divinity

Hurtfulness
18 In reaching for the bull, what does the speaker say he is reaching for?
The depths

Beauty

The bull's soul

Answers
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

Cool colors

Gray and black
21 What is the entrance of the bull compared to?
The speaker's mother

A god

The speaker himself

Zeus
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Entrances

War

Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother
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 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 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 the bull and kills him.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful

He wants a horse instead

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

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to relate to animals

Learning how to meditate

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Time Is a Mother study guide contains a biography of Ocean Vuong, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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