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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 scent of autumn like in "Aflame"?

2. What is easy in the poem "Sorcerer's Apprentice"?

3. What does the bear go, or turn into, in "Heart of the Arctic"?

4. What do plastics make lighter for carrying water in "The Bright Side"?

5. Where are we living now, according to the speaker in "Tracking the Rain"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What have many humans lost, according to the speaker in "Improvisation on a First Line by Yeats"?

2. What is the relationship between zombies and the past in Atwood's poem "Zombie"?

3. Generally, how do the aliens act towards humans in the poem "The Aliens Arrive"?

4. What should have been inside the dead bird instead of plastic in the poem "Midway Island Albatross"?

5. How does Atwood reimagine werewolves in the poem "Update on Werewolves"?

6. What tense does not exist at the conference in the poem "At the Translation Conference" and why?

7. In quoting Rilke, what does Atwood say about poetry?

8. What is the "defining foliage of the oil age" in the poem "Foliage"?

9. What does the siren wonder about in the poem "Siren Brooding on Her Eggs"?

10. In the poem "Fatal Light Awareness," what do we know that the birds do not?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Atwood use animals and insects to convey messages to the readers not only about the natural world, but about human nature, throughout this collection? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Atwood treat the topic of domestic violence in different poems in this collection? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

The first poem in this collection is titled "Late Poems;" how does Atwood use the first poem to set the reader's expectations for the rest of the collection in terms of style, tone, and content? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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