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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 does Bishop remember in "Santarem"?

2. What do the Brothers of the Souls know about the pauper in 'From "The Life and Death of a Severino"'?

3. To what does the poet liken the ocean in "Pleasure Seas"?

4. In "Lullaby for the Cat," what does the cat not want to do?

5. How does the crab in "Strayed Crab" view himself?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what style is Bandeira's poem "Brazilian Tragedy" composed?

2. Why is Bandeira so concerned about the specifics of his last poem in "My Last Poem"?

3. Why do you think Bishop chooses animals to symbolize the players in "The Hanging of the Mouse"?

4. What do the hats come to symbolize in "Exchanging Hats"?

5. What is the tone of "Lines Written in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook"?

6. How does Octavio Paz view the beginning of a new year in "January First"?

7. What is the effect on the reader of the surprise ending in Vinicius de Moraes' "Sonnet of Intimacy"?

8. In what state does the poet imply she is currently in her poem "Sonnet," written in 1928?

9. What is the meaning of the simple, repeated incident in Drummond de Andrade's "In the Middle of the Road"?

10. How are the "Four Sambas" by Anonymous different from the rest of the poems in the book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bishop shows a special fondness for water in her poetry. Does it have one symbolic meaning, or many? What are the allegorical and metaphorical connections she draws relating to water? Cite a variety of different poems to support your claim. For example, in "Pleasure Seas," how does she view natural bodies of water as opposed to man-made swimming pools?

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think Bishop chose to translate the poems of other writers from a variety of places? How does this relate to what you've learned about Bishop as a writer and as a person from reading her own work? Were you surprised by any of the choices she made in terms of poets, poems, languages, or the specific choices she made in translating each poem? Do you think it is appropriate to include translations in a collection of Bishop's poems? In what ways are these poems her work, and in what ways are they the work of the original poet? How would your experience of the book have been different if the translations had been omitted?

Essay Topic 3

What does "12 O'Clock News" tell us about Bishop's unique powers of observation and her ability to see things from a different perspective? Why do you think she chose to present the items in terms of newspaper stories? Do you think she is merely being playful, or is this a more serious commentary on journalism? Use specific examples from the poem to support your claim.

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