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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 does Tyrone say Mr. Ward gave each of the students in the class in "Tyrone"?

2. Sheila says that if anybody had to catch her, she's glad it was who in "Sheila"?

3. In "Self-Portrait: A Poem for my Father," the author writes that she is what?

4. What "hangs on the wall" in the poem "The Door"?

5. Porscha describes slamming her lunch tray down on the table across from who in "Porscha Johnson"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the characters of Sheila and Tanisha similar? How are they different?

2. What does Diondra's father become furious about in "Diondra"? What does she leave him in the hopes he will begin to understand her?

3. What kind of poem is performed by Tyrone, Wesley and Sterling in the narrative?

4. What secret is revealed in Raynard Patterson's poem?

5. How does Raynard feel about schoolwork in "Raynard Patterson"?

6. What does Wesley say to Sheila which makes her reconsider changing herself in "Sheila"? How does she express this in "Private Puzzle"?

7. What is foreshadowed in Diondra's poem "Self-Portrait: A Poem for My Father"?

8. How has Janelle's self esteem changed in the narrative before she reads "The Door"?

9. What is Sheila caught doing by Wesley in "Sheila"? What is her reaction?

10. How has Lupe's focus changed in the narrative by the time she reads "Imagine"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify and analyze religious allusion in the character of Sterling and in the poem "D-Train." How does faith play a role in Sterling's life and goals?

Essay Topic 2

Identify and analyze alliteration and assonance in "Message to a Friend." How do these techniques create an aesthetic sound to the work?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the rhyme and meter of "If" and "Bronx Masquerade." Do the poems have a set structure or are they free-form? What effect do the structures have?

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