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"/
Prayer

Zen Buddhism

Writing

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

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls

Genesis
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?
22

14

20

21
6 Who is standing alone in the backyard at the beginning of the poem?
The speaker's father

The Bull

The speaker

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

bruised around him

purpled around him

looked light
8 What is the poem's form?
Quatrains

Couplets

Free verse

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

Free verse

Anapest meter

Trochaic meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
1

3

4

2
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He wants to fight the bull

He becomes a matador

He wants to escape the bull

He claims he has no choice
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
night purple

ocean blue

bruised blue

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
What it wants

If the bull will spare him

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

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

Entrances

War

Reaching
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 love to play

to be a murderer of childhood

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

Hurtfulness

Divinity

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

Beauty

Answers

The bull's soul
19 How does the poet write out the conjunction "and"?
this conjunction does not appear in this poem

+

&

and
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?
Zeus

A god

The speaker's mother

The speaker himself
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Animal instincts

Relationship to Mother

War

Entrances
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 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.

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 his mother in the afterlife.
24 Why doesn't the speaker want the bull?
He wants a horse instead

He doesn't like himself

He is scared of the bull

He doesn't want the bull to be beautiful
25 What is the Zen story The Ten Bulls about?
Learning how to meditate

Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

Eschewing attachment

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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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