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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 the hawthorn tree in "The Hawthorn Tree" believe to be the reason for what the couple left behind?

2. What does God feel people have failed to do despite his effort in "Clear Morning'?

3. What does the speaker of "Scilla" say his audience treasures?

4. Who is the speaker in the poem "Wild Iris"?

5. The poet in "Matins" (#3) feels she has seen no proof of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does God say humanity truly wants in "Spring Snow"?

2. How do the violets refer to the gardener in "Violets"?

3. How does God feel about humanity in "Retreating Wind"?

4. In "Love in Moonlight," how does the speaker describe how humans sometimes force their despair on others?

5. Why does the hawthorn tree say it does not have to follow the couple to know what they are going through in "Hawthorn Tree"?

6. What pain does the iris describe in "Wild Iris"?

7. What does God say he gave people in "End of Winter" because that is what they wanted?

8. In "Witchgrass," why does the witchgrass feel humans needed to give them a name?

9. What does God tell humanity is the only thing they will hear in the final lines of "End of Summer"?

10. What does the trilium flower learn in its first moments of life in "Trillium" and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing the ways in which the changing seasons represent the poet's emotions and relationship with God. Use textual evidence to support your analysis.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the sun as a symbol in Wild Iris. Choose a minimum of 3 poems from varying viewpoints and discuss what the sun means to that person or thing and what other words or phrases are used to convey meaning.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing the theme of immortality in 3 - 5 poems from Wild Iris. Use textual evidence to support your analysis.

(see the answer keys)

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