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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. What color is the beast in 'Tasting the Wild Grapes'?

2. What is the only part of the narrator's body she is concerned with in 'August'?

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

4. What do the moles find delicious in 'Moles'?

5. What color is the snake in 'Rain in Ohio'?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In 'First Snow', what is brought about by the first snow?

4. What is the ironic idea included in 'Mushrooms'?

5. What does the alligator in 'Postcard From Flamingo' do?

6. What kind of annoyances does the narrator of 'Egrets' face while going to see the egrets?

7. What does the narrator see before leaving the hospital in 'University Hospital, Boston'?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There was a lot of interesting advice given and received in these poems. What are some examples of this advice, and what were the consequences of it?

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

Despair was a theme that was placed in a number of sensitive places in these poems. What are some of these places, and what role did despair play in this book?

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