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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 the second chorus of 'The Rock,' it is said that the people will neglect what?

2. In "To the Indians Who Died in Africa," whom should a man see in the dust in front of his own door at sunset?

3. Whom does the poet shall "try" man's well-preserved complacency in the third of the "Five Finger Exercises"?

4. What number does the speaker of "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees" ascribe to the last Christmas?

5. In "A Note on War Poetry," what two forces are "beyond control by experiment"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the women doing with the card game in the "Fragment of a Prologue"?

2. What is a possible interpretation of the significance of the "Midwinter spring" described in Part I of "Little Gidding"?

3. For what is the ship in "Marina" a symbolic signifier?

4. How was the speaker awoken in "The wind sprang up at four o'clock"?

5. What is the overall condition of true lovers described in "A Dedication to My Wife"?

6. How is Part IV of "The Dry Salvages" different from the other four sections of the poem?

7. What characterizes the tone of the poem in "Triumphal March"?

8. What characterizes the metaphors used as description of the old man bearing the "tooth of wit" in "Lines for an Old Man"?

9. How do love and desire contrast with one another in "Burnt Norton"?

10. What does Sweeney primarily describe in the "Fragment of an Agon"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The central theme of the last of Eliot's "Four Quartets", "Little Gidding," is fallen man's redemption. Analyze this theme as it is presented in "little Gidding." Why does man need redemption? From what is man redeemed? How does redemption come to man? What is the poetic imagery that Eliot uses to describe this need for redemption, that from which man is redeemed, and that by which he is redeemed? What does this need for redemption reveal about human nature? What does the manner of redemption reveal both about human nature and about the Divine, according to Eliot's portrayal?

Essay Topic 2

Important to many of Eliot's poems are the devices of simile, metaphor, and analogy. Considering a wide selection of his poems, craft an analytical essay on these poetic devices. What are they? How do they aid in the creation of poetic imagery and poetic meaning? What are some specific instances of each? How do these specific instances aid the reader in both visualizing the poem's literal significance and its deeper meaning?

Essay Topic 3

One of his most prominent poems, "Ash-Wednesday" describes the process of a man's conversion to a Catholic (albeit Anglo-Catholic) faith. Analyze the portrayal of a non-Catholic life against a Catholic life, as put forth in "Ash-Wednesday". What are the characteristics of a non-Catholic life? In what sort of action and substance does such a life consist? Alternatively, what is found in the Catholic life? What is unique to the Catholic life? What are the images Eliot uses to draw these distinctions? How are these images somewhat ambiguous, and wherein, and how, does one make them distinct individually and coherent as a whole?

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