"Without Title" Quiz

Without Title for my father who lived without ceremony By: Diane Glancy It’s hard you know without the buffalo, the shaman, the arrow, but my father went out each day to hunt as though he had them.

5 He worked in the stockyards. All his life he brought us meat. No one marked his first kill, no one sang his buffalo song. Without a vision he had migrated to the city

10 and went to work in the packing house. When he brought home his horns and hides my mother said get rid of them. I remember the animal tracks of his car 15 backing out the drive in snow and mud, the aerial on his old car waving like a bow string. I remember the silence of his lost power, the red buffalo painted on his chest. 20 Oh, I couldn’t see it but it was there, and in the night I heard his buffalo grunts like a snore.

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How does the setting illustrate the conflict in the poem?

• The setting of the city illustrates how the father’s life is in conflict with his culture, which is rooted in the natural world.
• The setting alternates between the city and the hunting grounds, illustrating how the father never adapted to either environment.
• The setting moves from the hunting grounds to the city, illustrating how difficult the change has been for the father.
• The setting of the hunting grounds illustrates how the father lost his spiritual connection to the buffalo after their extinction.

What idea is developed by the imagery in the lines “in the night I heard / his buffalo grunts like a snore.”

• The father cannot sleep peacefully in the city.
• The father’s true self is with his native culture.
• The man’s family is disturbed by his refusal to let go of the past.
• The man can only escape his ordinary life in his dreams.

Which phrase from the poem is an example of how the poet uses imagery to reflect the father’s history?

• in the stockyards (line 5)
• All his life (line 6)
• horns and hides (line 11)
• snow and mud (line 15)

Line 2 and line 9 are connected by references to —

• ancient hunting practices
• a loss of psychic powers
• the extinction of the buffalo
• native spiritual traditions

What do lines 5–13 reveal about the father?

• His day-to-day life has been stripped of cultural significance.
• He enjoys city life but wishes he had made different choices.
• He worries that he is unable to provide for his family.
• He adopts a life that is simple but fulfilling.

From lines 11–13, readers can infer that the speaker’s mother —

• doesn’t like meat
• often argues with the speaker’s father
• moved to the city as a young woman
• doesn’t appreciate the father’s traditional culture

The most likely reason the poet wrote this poem is to —

• describe her father and how he lives
• inform people about Native traditions
• honor her father and his traditions
• ensure Native traditions are preserved

Reread line 18. This line suggests that the speaker -

• thinks her father is weak
• understands the depth of her father’s loss
• lacks respect for her father
• remembers her father as not speaking much

PART A: How does the tone of the poem reflect a theme?

• The hopeful tone reflects how the speaker observes the ways in which her father has adjusted to his new life in the city.
• The sad tone reflects how the speaker observes the ways in which her father experiences the loss of his culture and authority.
• The angry tone reflects how the speaker observes the deteriorating relationship between her mother and father.
• The gloomy tone reflects how the speaker observes how quickly her childhood traditions have disappeared.