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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 sister who is no longer there, now that she is gone, in the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters"?

2. What color is anger in the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters"?

3. What does the speaker imagine the cicadas' song is saying in the poem "Cicadas"?

4. What does the health teacher in the poem "Health Class" tell her students the classroom is NOT?

5. What was standing there when the door was opened in Part 3 of the poem "Songs For Murdered Sisters"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Atwood use the ghost cat in the poem by the same titled to symbolize?

2. What kinds of stories did the people used to tell in the poem "The Dear Ones?"

3. What would be the advantage to slugs reproducing by bud or spore, according to Atwood in "Double-Entry Slug Sex"?

4. Why should one avoid wearing cotton when making recordings, according to the poem "Princess Clothing"?

5. What are some contradictions about cicadas in the poem by the same title?

6. What are the images in tension with each other in the poem titled "A Genre Painting"?

7. What kind of people were the Scythians in the poem "Digging Up the Scythians"?

8. Why do people carve jack-o-lanterns in the poem "Carving the Jacks"?

9. In the poem "Aflame," what is happening to the world?

10. How does the speaker in the poem "Passports" feel about aging?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Atwood treat the topic of plastics in Parts IV and V of this collection? Why are plastics so harmful and destructive, according to Atwood? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

In the poem "Update on Werewolves," how does Atwood flip the usual stereotypes about the mythical creatures around, and what is she trying to communicate to the reader in so doing? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the theme of the poem "Dearly" and write an essay exploring why Atwood chose its title for the name of this collection.

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