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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 4, 5 and 6.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which author would only write poetry when he was '...rather out of health'?
(a) Osip Mandelstam.
(b) Jack London.
(c) A.E. Housman.
(d) Wallace Stevens.

2. Why did Dillard refer to a Zulu warrior and an Aztec maiden in Chapter 3?
(a) As an analogy for readiness and preparation.
(b) To show what an author is like.
(c) As an idea for a writing theme.
(d) To compare writers to religious icons.

3. What does Dillard say that she thinks an artist supposes a live image to possess?
(a) A confused set of lines.
(b) Something he should pretend to know.
(c) A secret to be discovered.
(d) Some technique stolen from him.

4. Thornton Wilder cited an unnamed writer of sonnets as saying only one line drops from where?
(a) The ceiling.
(b) A whisper in the ear.
(c) A chicken.
(d) A hammer.

5. When Dillard left her cabin for home in Chapter 5 during a northeaster, how was she feeling, walking down the beach?
(a) Dead-like.
(b) Bright and alive.
(c) Blurry-eyed.
(d) Light and dizzy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was seen outside the carrel window in Roanoke when Dillard peeked outside the blinds?

2. How does Dillard say that she defines the life of the writer in Chapter 3?

3. In working-class France, what did Dillard say that experienced workers tell an apprentice who gets hurt or tired?

4. What did Dillard do when she was upstairs in a house and she felt a tremor under her feet in Chapter 4?

5. What does the impulse to save something good for a better place later signify, according to Dillard?

(see the answer key)

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