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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What body of water does the speaker claim to be in the eighth stanza?
(a) An ocean.
(b) A river.
(c) A stream.
(d) A lake.

2. Where does the speaker say she obtained her gifts?
(a) From well-chosen friends.
(b) From the passage of time.
(c) From effort and hard work.
(d) From her ancestors.

3. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?
(a) Brave and perseverent.
(b) Intelligent and curious.
(c) Lighthearted and silly.
(d) Lively and confident.

4. What is the primary quality that the speaker's stanza eight description of a body of water is intended to convey?
(a) Independence.
(b) Endurance.
(c) Power.
(d) Persistence.

5. What technique is used in line 29, "Out of the huts of history’s shame"?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Juxtaposition.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Allegory.

6. Which is the first stanza of the poem that is longer than four lines?
(a) 6.
(b) 9.
(c) 7.
(d) 8.

7. What precious stones does the speaker use to evoke beauty and value in the simile in line 27?
(a) Emeralds.
(b) Rubies.
(c) Diamonds.
(d) Sapphires.

8. What is the rhyme scheme of the first seven stanzas?
(a) ABAC.
(b) ABCB.
(c) ABAB.
(d) ABBA.

9. Why is the speaker's past "rooted in pain" (line 32)?
(a) Because of the death of a loved one.
(b) Because she has been abandoned by someone she loves.
(c) Because no one appreciates her value.
(d) Because of bigotry and discrimination.

10. Which two things does the final stanza use to represent the past and present?
(a) The directions east and west.
(b) A seed and a sprout.
(c) Night and daybreak.
(d) Gathering clouds and rain.

11. What words create a refrain in the final two stanzas of the poem?
(a) "Still I rise."
(b) "I rise."
(c) "Again I rise."
(d) "I rise and rise."

12. Which is the most logical description of who "You" is in line 1?
(a) A romantic partner.
(b) Scholars and critics.
(c) People of the past.
(d) An unnamed oppressor.

13. Which technique is used in line 9, "Just like moons and like suns"?
(a) Dialect.
(b) Parallelism.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Euphemism.

14. What technique is used in line 21, "You may shoot me with your words"?
(a) Kenning.
(b) Innuendo.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Simile.

15. What kind of "certainty" does the speaker claim to have in line 10?
(a) The "certainty of tides."
(b) The "certainty of springtime."
(c) The "certainty of air."
(d) The "certainty of history."

Short Answer Questions

1. In the final quatrain, what does the speaker wonder about upsetting "you" with?

2. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?

3. Which technique is frequently used at the beginnings of stanzas?

4. What techniques are used in line 19, "’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines"?

5. What technique is used in lines 7 and 8, "’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room"?

(see the answer keys)

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