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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Sonnet XCIX, what time period does Neruda contemplate?
(a) The past.
(b) The end of time.
(c) The time before the beginning of the world.
(d) The future.

2. In Sonnet LXI, what does Neruda describe as having a "tail of pain" and a "train of static thorns?"
(a) Love.
(b) Death.
(c) His critics.
(d) Sleep.

3. In Sonnet LXXV, what does Neruda say the house has forgotten how to do?
(a) Sleep.
(b) Laugh.
(c) Function.
(d) Bloom.

4. What is Matilde doing in Sonnet LXXX?
(a) Playing guitar.
(b) Writing.
(c) Taking photos.
(d) Reading.

5. In Sonnet LXXXIX, why does Neruda want Matilde to live on after he has died?
(a) So the world can understand what he loved so much.
(b) So his poetry will seem more real.
(c) So his memory will live on.
(d) So he can see the world through her eyes.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Sonnet LXXXIII, where is Matilde as she sleeps?

2. According to Sonnet LXII, what is the only thing that Neruda and Matilde want and which is overshadowed by others?

3. In Sonnet XCII, what does Neruda say has no birth and no death, and will therefore last forever?

4. In Sonnet LXXXVII, Neruda contemplates the "ceaseless origins" of which human emotion?

5. In Sonnet LXIII, what land does Neruda call "savage" and "deadly?"

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Neruda write, "Woe is me, woe is me" at the beginning of Sonnet LXII?

2. What emotion is symbolized by the "calm slow flower, constantly held out" in Sonnet LXXXVII? What does Neruda see that makes him contemplate that emotion?

3. Why has the house in Sonnet LXXV forgotten how to bloom?

4. Why does Neruda feel sorry for the "poor unlucky poets" in Sonnet LIX?

5. What does Neruda write are the effects of modern society's infatuation with flying in Sonnet XCVII?

6. Why does Neruda urge Matilde to sleep in Sonnet LXXXIX?

7. What effect does Matilde's absence have on Neruda in Sonnet LXV?

8. What defeats envy and rancor in Sonnet LVI?

9. What are Neruda and Matilde looking for in Sonnet XCV, and what do they plan to do once they find it?

10. In Sonnet LXXII, what causes Neruda to exclaim, "Let's go -- get up -- pin back your hair -- take off and land?"

(see the answer keys)

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