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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the island on Haro Strait, why would a man overboard die within ten minutes?
(a) The whales were numerous.
(b) The water was very cold.
(c) There were sharks.
(d) The channel made the water unswimmable.

2. Whose drawings and paintings did Dillard believe show his bewilderment and persistence?
(a) Picasso.
(b) Gaugan.
(c) Rousseau.
(d) Giacometti.

3. What body of water did Dillard write near in Washington State?
(a) Port of Vancouver.
(b) Puget Sound.
(c) Strait of Georgia.
(d) The Columbia River.

4. Dillard repeated the phrase, 'It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay' over and over like a song in Chapter 5. What poem is this line from?
(a) Poem Written at Morning.
(b) The Well Dressed Man with a Beard.
(c) Valley Candle.
(d) Sunday Morning.

5. What does Dillard say that she thinks happens to something, such as a writing idea, that you do not give up freely and abundantly?
(a) It becomes lost to you.
(b) It will be poorly written.
(c) Someone else will get it.
(d) It becomes better with age.

6. Where did Dillard forget about a boiling teakettle and burn it?
(a) A cabin on Puget Sound.
(b) An office in a college.
(c) Her kitchen.
(d) A faculty lounge in a university.

7. Who wrote, 'He goes because he must, as Galahad went towards the Grail; knowing that for those who can live it, this alone is life'?
(a) Wallace Stevens.
(b) Albert Einstein.
(c) Evelyn Underhill.
(d) Henry Thoreau.

8. Whose poetry did Dillard usually read aloud when on a break?
(a) Walt Whitman's.
(b) Frederick Buechner's.
(c) Ralph Waldo Emerson's.
(d) Conrad Aiken's.

9. What made the teakettle in the faculty lounge look so interesting in Chapter 3?
(a) It had a picture of an Aztec on it.
(b) It had a clothespin jutting from its mouth.
(c) It was only large enough for 8 ounces of liquid.
(d) It was in the shape of a cow.

10. What does Dillard say that she remembers seeing on the island at Haro Strait that made her weep on the shore in fear?
(a) The island beach dropping to the ocean floor suddenly.
(b) A man out in a rowboat at night.
(c) A fire on Stuart Island.
(d) The sea in a winter storm.

11. Who did Dillard get a visit from in Chapter 3 that was eye-awakening for her?
(a) A writers' group.
(b) Two local neighborhood boys.
(c) A volunteer EMS worker.
(d) The mail carrier.

12. What does Dillard say that she believes a writer should aim for when writing?
(a) The wood.
(b) The chopping block.
(c) The axe.
(d) The scraps of wood.

13. What happened to the Smith-Corona typewriter in Chapter 4?
(a) The cord sent out sparks.
(b) It fell from the desk and broke.
(c) The rumbling damaged it beyond repair.
(d) It erupted with smoke and fire.

14. What was the result of Dillard's first attempts at splitting wood in Chapter 3?
(a) She missed the wood every time.
(b) She cut herself with the axe.
(c) Tiny wedges got chopped off.
(d) She split fine logs.

15. What did Dillard once describe a moth on a ship as doing?
(a) Being stepped on by someone.
(b) Taking off before she could draw it.
(c) Taking flight like a hummingbird.
(d) Losing altitude and drowning.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does the novel as a form usually represent, according to Dillard?

3. What was Dillard's only physical activity in the one-room log cabin on an empty beach?

4. Referring to a new idea, who said, 'Cheep--and all at once there it is'?

5. What does Dillard say she believes poets and novelists like?

(see the answer keys)

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