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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the plastic "rock" look like in "Plasticene Suite"?
(a) Red.
(b) Black and striped and slippery.
(c) Purple and striated.
(d) Blue and yellow.

2. What is the hard part in "Sorcerer's Apprentice"?
(a) Getting the right books.
(b) Finding the sorcerer again.
(c) Getting the machine to stop.
(d) Finding money.

3. What do we hear in the wind's plainsong at the end of "Improvisation on a First Line by Yeats"?
(a) The sea.
(b) The wind itself.
(c) The souls.
(d) The pebbles.

4. In Part I of "The Aliens Arrive," what happens?
(a) They are small and weak, so we kill them.
(b) They are smarter than us, and carnivorous - you know the rest.
(c) They die in our atmosphere.
(d) They look like us, so we accept them.

5. What will the baby sirens be "ravenous" with in "Siren Brooding on her Eggs"?
(a) Song.
(b) Desire.
(c) Appetite.
(d) Swimming.

6. What does the speaker say humans are in "Fatal Light Awareness"?
(a) A curse.
(b) A miracle.
(c) A dying symphony.
(d) A lost cause.

7. What happens to the albatross in "Plasticene Suite"?
(a) It is killed by eating plastic.
(b) It thrives in the caves.
(c) It lets humans raise its young.
(d) It is killed by hunters.

8. What does everyone cry when they see in the section of "Plasticene Suite" titled "Whales"?
(a) The tangled birds in the sea.
(b) The shark carrying the fish.
(c) The person carrying the dead calf.
(d) The whale carrying her dead calf.

9. What did the madman once love in "Walking in the Madman's Wood"?
(a) This wildland.
(b) The fog.
(c) The peacock.
(d) The woodshed.

10. What does Yeats speak about loving in "Improvisations on a First Line by Yeats"?
(a) Bare hills and stunted trees.
(b) Bagels.
(c) Wind and rain.
(d) Sea breezes.

11. What do the ravens understand in "This Fjord Looks Like a Lake"?
(a) How to heal the sick.
(b) The march of time.
(c) Waned flesh.
(d) How fickle humans are.

12. What do the leaves in the garden remind the speaker of in "Tracking the Rain"?
(a) Silk.
(b) Antique taffeta.
(c) Plastic.
(d) Nylon.

13. What is the main problem with the plastics in the environment in "Plasticene Suite"?
(a) People like to see them in nature too much.
(b) There are not enough of them.
(c) Animals like to use them to build homes.
(d) There is an overwhelming amount of them.

14. What do the ravens ask the people in "This Fjord Looks Like a Lake"?
(a) Will you be next?
(b) Why do you leave so many plastics lying around?
(c) When will our time come?
(d) Are you here to harm us?

15. Where do "we gods" preside in "The Twilight of the Gods"?
(a) The boardroom.
(b) The forest.
(c) The colleges.
(d) Their own altar.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the humans wonder about the siren in the poem "Siren Brooding on Her Eggs"?

2. How does the speaker in "Heart of the Arctic" know a careless person has been there?

3. What is the robot designed to do in the section of "Plasticene Suite" titled "Little Robot"?

4. What is the cancelled word in "Walking in the Madman's Wood"?

5. What does the editor ask the speaker to do in the section of "Plasticene Suite" titled "Editor's Notes"?

(see the answer keys)

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