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

2. In Sonnet XCV, what does Neruda describe as "the light that endures," and as a "irrevocable delicate thorn?"
(a) Mortality.
(b) The beauty of life.
(c) He and Matilde, and the love they share.
(d) The power of death.

3. In Sonnet LXXI, what season does Neruda desire to escape from?
(a) Summer.
(b) Fall.
(c) Spring.
(d) Winter.

4. In Sonnet LXIX, what does Neruda say "nothingness" is?
(a) The sound of wind in the trees.
(b) The sound of waves on the shore.
(c) Matilde's absence.
(d) Matilde's silence.

5. In Sonnet LXXIII, what are the man and woman in Neruda's poem protecting themselves from?
(a) Sadness.
(b) Love.
(c) Hate.
(d) War.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where are Neruda and Matilde in Sonnet C?

2. In Sonnet XCVIII, what does Neruda say silences the word in the poem?

3. In Sonnet LI, Matilde's laugh reminds Neruda of what kind of tree?

4. In Sonnet LV, what does Neruda say that even love cannot shelter himself and Matilde from?

5. In Sonnet LXXXIV, what does Neruda say "supports the columns of the heaven's harbor?"

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the man and woman in Sonnet LXXIII, and what do they arm themselves against? Are they successful in fending off their enemy?

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

3. How does Neruda describe his homeland in Sonnet LXIII?

4. What is unusual about the images of winter and cold in Sonnet LXXIV?

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

6. 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?

7. What are Neruda and Matilde looking for in Sonnet LXXI?

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

9. In Sonnet LXXXIX, what does Neruda want Matilde to do when he dies? Why does he want her to do this?

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

(see the answer keys)

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