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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 is the narrator unsure she can do in 'Web'?

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

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

4. In 'Clapp's Pond', what does the narrator see drinking from the lake miles away?

5. What charts the health of the patients at the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. What question is asked at the beginning of 'Ghosts'?

2. What does the narrator think about while watching nature in Flamingo?

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

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

5. How do most people feel about vultures according to the narrator of 'Vultures'?

6. What does the narrator of 'Egrets' say allows them to step without fear?

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

8. What does the narrator say about the trees at the Boston Hospital in 'University Hospital, Boston'?

9. Where does personification fit in 'Lightning'?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Some of these poems alluded to Oliver's belief in God and her religious views. How did this this religious center affect the tone of the poems and the messages being presented in them?

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