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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What emotion does the man in After Death feel for the poem's speaker in the latter's posthumous condition?

2. In the final stanza of A Summer Wish, where are the birds said to take their night rest?

3. What does the speaker in the first poem entitled Song say ought to be placed on the grave of those who died in their youth?

4. Of what does Maude Clare, in the poem of the same name, wash her hands?

5. What do the poem's speaker's neighbors do when they see her pass empty-handed in An Apple Gathering?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does the speaker of The Convent Threshold prefer the joys of the heavenly life over those of the earthly?

2. What characterizes the tone of the speaker in the last six lines of Remember?

3. Why might the man in After Death pity the poem's speaker now that she is dead?

4. What is the attitude of the first speaker in A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break to his auditor?

5. What characterizes the poem's speaker's commands to the rose and the bird in the first two stanzas of A Summer Wish?

6. Does The One Certainty indicate a pure negativity or is there some indication of hope in the message?

7. What is the attitude of the speaker in No Thank You, John towards John?

8. What is significant about the doves, lilies, and butterflies listed being in pairs in the second poem entitled Song?

9. Why would the speaker not plant summer flowers and wait, as described in the first stanza of Another Spring?

10. What is the tone of the poem's speaker towards love in An End?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compose an essay which investigates the Christological allegory presented in Goblin Market. Such an allegory, one which relates in its non-literal signification a well-known story or historical occurrence, will not necessarily have direct correlations between the literal and the non-literal significations, but relate the two by universal types of actions, the exemplar of which being found in the non-literally signified story. What are the universal types by which the story of Christ and Goblin Market are related? In what ways does the story parallel that of Christ, or of salvation history in general? Of what are the various characters and actions in the story symbolic? What impact does Goblin Market have on the reader's perception of the story of Christ?

Essay Topic 2

A theme primarily exposed in Maude Clare is the contrast between a fleeting, passionate love and a lasting, committed love. This theme does appear, though not so evidently, in other poems, in which the temporality of certain joys is contrasted with more permanent emotions. In a well-developed essay, analyze this theme of contrast in loves. How is each portrayed? With what is passionate love commonly associated? With what is committed love commonly associated? How do the characters associated with each regularly comport themselves? What do these presentations reveal about human nature and its disposition towards love and relationships?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the poems in this collection are in the traditional Italian sonnet form. This includes A Triad, Remember, After Death, The One Certainty, and The World. Using either a few, or all, of these sonnets, compose an analytical essay which demonstrates how the Italian sonnet form conveys its significance through exposition in the octave and explication or resolution in the sestet. How do the two parts interact with one another? What does the commentary or resolution in the sestet achieve? What opportunities of conveying significance does the form of the sonnet allow? What is the significance of some of the sonnets in the collection?

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