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

Atheism

Writing

Zen Buddhism
2 What story does this poem engage with?
Genesis

The Gates of Paradise

Ten Bulls

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

last poem of the last section

in the middle

first poem of the first section
4 How does the poem's placement affect the entire collection?
It has no bearing on the entire collection

Sets the tone, introduces thematic throughline of transformations

It relates to the poems in Section IV

It relates to the poems in Section I
5 How many lines does the poem "The Bull" have?
21

22

20

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

The speaker's mother

The speaker's father

The Bull
7 Finish this quote: "...so dark / the night__"
looked light

purpled around him

bruised around him

swallowed him
8 What is the poem's form?
Couplets

Quatrains

Tercets

Free verse
9 What is the poem's meter?
Trochaic meter

Free verse

Iambic pentameter

Anapest meter
10 How many stanzas does the poem have?
3

4

2

1
11 Why does the speaker step outside?
He claims he has no choice

He wants to fight the bull

He wants to escape the bull

He becomes a matador
12 What color are the bull's eyes?
ocean blue

night purple

bruised blue

kerosene blue
13 What does the speaker ask the bull?
If the bull will spare him

What it needs

The speaker does not ask the bull anything

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

Reaching

Entrances

Self exploration
15 What language does the speaker claim to be speaking?
No language

Vietnamese

English

Written language only
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?
Gentleness

Beauty

Hurtfulness

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

Answers

The bull's soul

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?
Gray and black

Rainbow

Warm colors

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

A god

The speaker's mother

Zeus
22 What particular theme does this poem introduce?
Entrances

Relationship to Mother

War

Animal instincts
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 is scared of the bull

He doesn't like himself

He wants a horse instead

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

Eschewing attachment

Learning how to relate to animals

Self-realization

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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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