Poetry Examination

by
Tayzah M. Peeples

for
ENGL-206-2, CRN# 15303, African American Literature II
Fall, 2014

Instructor: Dr. Joe Amoako

Delaware State University
November 18, 2014

1. I am proud to be a Delaware State University Hornet

Living, growing, and thriving on this beautiful campus
There is nothing more wonderful than receiving an education
Once we graduate, all of our parents will be utterly proud of us
2. The speaker in the poem Still I Rise is an oppressed, but strong person. An example
showing that the speaker is oppressed is, You may kill me with your hatefulness.
However, the speaker proves to be a strong person by repeatedly stating Still Ill rise.
3. My theme for Still I Rise is Confidence is key. Throughout the duration of the poem,
the speaker was highly susceptible to hate and constantly put down. However, by being
confident and stating things such as cause I laugh like Ive got gold mines and diggin
in my own backyard and does my sexiness upset you, the speaker proves that by
having confidence, one can withstand hatred.
4. I rise is an example of anaphora in the poem Still I Rise because it appears on line 30
and is repeated on lines 32, 36, 38, 41, 42, and 43.
5. But still, like dust, Ill rise is a simile from Still I Rise.
6. The tone in the fourth stanza of Still I Rise is inquisitive.
7. In Still I Rise, the six things in the first, third, and the sixth stanzas that the speaker has
said that he or she rises like are dust, moons, suns, tides, hopes, and air. The common
phenomenon all six of these things have is that they are all inanimate objects.
8. An example of apostrophe from Still I Rise is Does my sassiness upset you?
9. The form of the poem Still I Rise from the first stanza to through the seventh stanza is a
closed quatrain. The form of the last stanza is open.
10. The rhyme scheme of Still I Rise from the first stanza through the seventh stanza is abcb.
11. Let is the one-word anaphora in the last stanza of For My People.
12. The tone of the last stanza of For My People is hopeful.
13. The listeners in the first stanza of For My People are African Americans.
14. The speaker in For My People grew up as a child in the state of Alabama.
15. The people who do all the work in the second stanza of the poem For My People gain
nothing.
16. The form of the poem For My People is a closed quatrain.

17. The form of the poem Poppa Chicken is a closed quatrain.

18. The rhyme scheme of Poppa Chicken is abcb.
19. The imagery in lines 9 and 10 of Poppa Chicken is visual.
20. Talking like he was God is a simile from Poppa Chicken.
21. In Poppa Chicken, Poppa Chicken spent one year in jail because he shot a guy.
22. Joe was the name of the boyfriend of Rose who caught Poppa Chicken playing with Rose
in the poem Poppa Chicken.
23. The rhyme scheme of Conjugal Visits is abcb.
24. The form of Conjugal Visits is a closed quatrain.
25. The speaker in Conjugal Visits is a woman. She is a lover to someone that is imprisoned,
and her real name is Kamisha. Line 3 Or in between our making love shows that she is
Reeces lover while line 64, They got his ass locked up, shows that he is imprisoned.
26. In Conjugal Visits, Reece and the speaker meet through want ads.
27. In Conjugal Visits, Reece is changing his name to Malik because he is now a Muslim.
28. The speaker in Conjugal Visits suggests that the money used to clothe and feed prisoners
should be used on providing an education.
29. The imagery being applied in line 47 of Conjugal Visits is gustatory.
30. The tone of the whole poem of The Mother is remorseful.
31. The speakers in The Mother are women who have had abortions.
32. The Mother is an open form poem.
33. The one imagery being applied in lines 11 and 12 of The Mother is auditory.
34. Toward the end of the poem, The Mother, the speaker wants the listeners to believe that
she loved them all.
35. The rhyme scheme of the poem The Preacher is abbc.
36. The form of the poem The Preacher is a closed quatrain.
37. The imagery being applied in line 10 of The Preacher is tactile.

38. Looking down and being great are the two activities the speaker in The Preacher thinks
God got tired of doing.
39. In the poem, The Preacher, Jehovah is the Hebrew name for God.
40. The poem, The Preacher, contains 160 syllables.
41. Metaphor is being used in the first line of My City.
42. In the poem, My City, the speaker will die, causing him or her to never see his or her city
again.
43. The name of the city the speaker is talking about in My City is New York City.
44. The three imageries being applied in lines 6and 7 of the poem My City are olfactory,
auditory, and visual.
45. My City is an open-form poem.
46. In the poem, My City, one thing that the speaker is thrilled about in the city that he or she
is talking about is its shining towers.
47. The rhyme scheme of My City is abbacddcefefgg.
48. The poem, Fifty Years, contains 832 syllables.
49. The form of the poem Fifty Years is a closed quatrain.
50. The rhyme scheme of Fifty Years is abab.
51. The speaker and his people in the poem, Fifty Years, will use the stone alter for prayer.
52. New zeal, new courage, and new powers are three new things the speaker and his people
will pray for in the ninth stanza of the poem Fifty Years.
53. The tone of the poem Fifty Years is optimistic.
54. In the poem Fifty Years, John Brown was a man who was executed for leading an
antislavery insurrection against the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
55. The speaker in Fifty Years is relaying their massage on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lincolns
Emancipation Proclamation. He or she is speaking to the people that have been freed half a
century ago. Because Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, they have been released

from slavery and made men. This feat has allowed them to come a long way from where they
started, three hundred years of slavery, to their current position, citizens of America. These
people were not just a part of unfortunate bondage, but a major part of history as well. They
now look to God to provide them with things such as new courage and worth in their land.
These freed slaves are the ones who helped to turn the virgin earth into a fruitful place,
abundant with things lucrative to America such as corn and cotton. They have never been
praised for their strenuous labor. However, on this day, the speaker wants them to know that
they should stand erect, proud, and unafraid. The speaker can identify with his or her peers
who are often intimidated, disheartened, and left with sinking hope, but he or she encourages
them to have courage and see that they are a part of Gods plan. Wendell Phillips, Elijah P.
Lovejoy, and John Brown were all people who helped to fight for the freedom of slaves; the
speaker prompts his audience to not allow their efforts and deaths to go in vain. He or she
also advises that they not allow Abraham Lincolns achievements and accomplishments to
free them to go unnoticed. Millions of enslaved people prayed, worked, and hoped for the
day when slaves would become freed men. While tens of thousands fought and died for the
slaves freedom in The Civil War. Because of these aspects amongst numerous others, the
speaker lets his or her listeners know that God will not let all of their trials and tribulations
cumulate to nothing. That their long-lived servitude has ended with them now being able to
thrive.