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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who has killed so many sisters over the years in Part 6 of the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters"?
(a) Jealous parents.
(b) Fearful men.
(c) Other sisters.
(d) Evil spirits.

2. What fiction does Atwood write of in the poem "Shadow"?
(a) The fiction that anyone is owed anything in life.
(b) The fiction that all family ties are strong.
(c) The fiction that this one likes you.
(d) The fiction that you can live forever.

3. Why do people give others souvenirs from vacations in the poem "Souvenir"?
(a) So they can decorate their homes.
(b) So they will want to travel too.
(c) So they can call the spirits.
(d) So the receiver can remember them.

4. How is the woman in the painting looking out of it in "A Genre Painting"?
(a) Through lowered lids.
(b) Aslant.
(c) Scheming.
(d) Through a glare.

5. Why, if victorious, did the scythians fight in the poem "Digging Up the Scythians"?
(a) For the loot.
(b) For the glory.
(c) For the king's honor.
(d) For the legends.

6. Why were the old stories comforting in a way in the poem "The Dear Ones"?
(a) They said everyone has to be somewhere.
(b) They said humans would always survive.
(c) They said the sun will always rise.
(d) They said it all ends well.

7. What does the speaker implore the reader to do in the last stanza of "Late Poems"?
(a) Turn down the bedcovers.
(b) Turn up the radio.
(c) Turn up the light.
(d) Turn down the music.

8. What does the cat do in the poem "Ghost Cat"?
(a) Refuses to drink even milk.
(b) Kills the fish in the tank.
(c) Claws at the bedroom door waiting to be let in.
(d) Eats too much tuna.

9. What goes on calling in the end of the poem "The Dear Ones"?
(a) The sorrow.
(b) The mystery.
(c) The rage.
(d) The dawn.

10. Who is in bed together in the poem "Betrayal"?
(a) Your lover and your friend.
(b) Your spouse and your best friend's spouse.
(c) Your cat.
(d) No one.

11. Who is the speaker concerned about in the poem "Blizzard"?
(a) Her husband.
(b) Her father.
(c) Her mother.
(d) Her sister.

12. What does Atwood compare late poems to in the poem "Late Poems"?
(a) The past.
(b) A cat.
(c) A letter from a sailor that arrives after he has drowned.
(d) An old friend.

13. What question does the speaker ask the dead sister in the Coda of the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters"?
(a) Can you see the sunset, still?
(b) Are you a flower or a well?
(c) If you were a song, what song would you be?
(d) Are you in pain?

14. What does the speaker say about most poems in the poem "Late Poems"?
(a) Most poems are sad.
(b) Most poems are from the future.
(c) Most poems are early.
(d) Most poems are late.

15. What color does Cassandra want to dye her hair in the poem "Cassandra Considers Declining the Gift"?
(a) Red.
(b) Black.
(c) Brown.
(d) Blond.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the speaker not realize how good things were in the poem "Salt"?

2. Why does the speaker in the poem "Salt" say it is tempting to "look back"?

3. What does the speaker praise in the poem "If There Were No Emptiness"?

4. What does the neon sign in "Everyone Else's Sex Life" say?

5. What happens when the speaker in the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters" sings this song for her sister?

(see the answer keys)

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