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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. In Poem 6, whose statue were they putting up?

2. In poem 2, where does the poet say "we" were sailing through the streets?

3. In Poem 3, the poet writes of fur leaves and cobalt what?

4. What are the "patriotic maidens" wearing in Poem 2?

5. In Poem 17, what kind of pierrots castrate disaster?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the eleventh poem of Chapter One, in what way does the author describe the "Wild West"?

2. What is the second poem of Chapter 1 about? What imagery is used?

3. Detail the events which take place in Poem 8, in Golden Gate Park.

4. Describe Poem 7 of Chapter One. What literally happens in the poem, and what is the underlying meaning?

5. What is the metaphor for a poet in Poem 15 of Chapter One?

6. What is the statue described as in Poem 6 of Chapter One?

7. What does the poet write about Beauty in Poem 10 of Chapter One?

8. What is Poem 4 about in Chapter One? What imagery is used?

9. Describe the woman in Poem 21 of Chapter One.

10. What happens in Poem 9 of Chapter One? What does the woman say to him in the poem? What is the mood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss what the author means in his literary allusion to "Kafka's Castle" in Poem 16 of Chapter One. To what does the "Mystery of Existence" refer? What is the prominent theme of the poem?

Essay Topic 2

Poem 5 of "A Coney Island of the Mind" describes "a kind of carpenter / from some square-type place / like Galilee." Describe the religious imagery and themes of this poem.

Essay Topic 3

What are the predominant, overriding themes in Chapter Three of the collection. What artistic and literary allusions are used in the poetry of this chapter? How does the artist feel about the references he makes?

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