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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. Who killed a crow the week before in 'Crows and Owls'?

2. What does the Robin call in 'Rain in Ohio'?

3. Why do some people not gather the mushrooms in 'Mushrooms'?

4. What causes the beast in 'Tasting the Wild Grapes' to explode at times?

5. How does the narrator describe the shark heading for the seals in 'Cold Poem'?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator of 'August' accept during the poem?

2. What is the central theme in the first four poems?

3. What does the person in 'Skunk Cabbage' love about the woods?

4. What is 'Ghosts' really about?

5. What is the person in 'Skunk Cabbage' looking for, and what do they find?

6. What chafes the narrator in 'Fall Song'?

7. How does the narrator of 'Fall Song' describe the present time?

8. What does the narrator in 'University Hospital, Boston' think about when she hears how old the hospital is?

9. What do the Sioux say about ghosts in the poem 'Ghosts'?

10. What are the vultures in 'Vultures' compared to in an ironic analogy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Foolishness was a very common folly highlighted in this collection of poems. What are some of the main examples of this, and what message was being sent through these examples of blatant foolishness?

Essay Topic 2

Through these poems, Oliver presented a very interesting and unique philosophy on life. What was this philosophy, and how did this different idealism affect the tone of her literature?

Essay Topic 3

What did Oliver state about happiness in 'The Plum Trees', and how were these ideas substantiated?

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This section contains 571 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample