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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 does Yeats speak about loving in "Improvisations on a First Line by Yeats"?

2. What is one feature of happy dreams of wolves in "Short Takes on Wolves"?

3. What happens in Part 7 of "The Aliens Arrive"?

4. What new type of era does the speaker in "Plasticene Suite" define?

5. What is happening to the world in "Aflame"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the speaker in the poem "Little Robot" worry the robot might do?

2. Why does the speaker insinuate people are so desperate for rain in the poem "Tracking the Rain"?

3. What are the advantages of having a spider in the house in the poem "Spider Signatures"?

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

5. How does the speaker in the poem "Feather" make sure not to waste?

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

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

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

9. What play on words does Atwood introduce in the poem "Plasticene Suite"?

10. What are the two things "he" is afraid of in "Fear of Birds"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the last poem in the collection, "Blackberries," embody several of the themes and the overall tone of this entire collection? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What dual meanings and symbolism does Atwood assign to souvenirs in the poem in Part I by that title? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Which poems in this collection could be viewed as a sort of speculative fiction - a genre Atwood is known for - and why? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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