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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 the speaker in the first poem entitled Song say ought to be placed on her own grave?

2. To what is Maude Clare compared in the first stanza of Maude Clare?

3. In Goblin Market, what location of significance will not grow grass?

4. For what reason is Nell in Maude Clare pale?

5. What do the poem's speaker's neighbors do when they see her pass empty-handed in An Apple Gathering?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what is the speaker of Echo in longing?

2. What is meant by the line "Or in this world, or in the world to come" in the last stanza of The First Spring Day?

3. How does the "she" change from day to night in The World?

4. Why would the speaker not plant summer flowers and wait, as described in the first stanza of Another Spring?

5. What does the "Spring" in the second stanza of The First Spring Day interpretatively signify?

6. What might be the reason for John's unwarranted affection towards the poem's speaker in No Thank You, John?

7. What is the tone of the speaker in the first stanza of A Better Resurrection?

8. Does The One Certainty indicate a pure negativity or is there some indication of hope in the message?

9. For what reason does the poem's speaker feel the need to seek repentance in The Convent Threshold?

10. For what does the inn in Up-Hill stand as a metaphor, and what indicates this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A conventional poetic motif is introduced, but also partially inferred, in Rossetti's Another Spring, which operates primarily on the "If, then; but, therefore" structure. In this poem, the "if, then" half of the structure is explicitly stated, and the reader is supposed to infer the "but, therefore" half. Compose an essay which thoroughly analyzes this sort of poetic presentation, but the overall impact of the "If, then; but, therefore" structure and the immediate impact of the inference insisted upon by Another Spring. What purpose does the particular structure serve? How does this motif help to indicate truth? What purpose is served by the contrast? What purpose is served by having the reader supply half of the contrast himself? What does the poem signify overall? How is this signification accomplished?

Essay Topic 2

In Goblin Market, one theme which emerges from the overall story is the strength of and relation between love and sacrifice. In a well-developed essay analyze the portrayal of love and love's manifestation by sacrifice. How is love portrayed in the poem? Why is sacrifice necessary to love? Against what do love and sacrifice contrast? What sort of actions accompany true love and genuine sacrifice? The etymological root of sacrifice means to "make sacred"; how is this portrayed and demonstrated in the characters and actions of Goblin Market? What does the poem demonstrate about the relationships between love, sacrifice, and human nature?

Essay Topic 3

A constant theme in Rossetti's poetry is the struggle of a speaker against despair. Compose an analytical essay which examines this theme overall. How is it portrayed in individual poems? How is it portrayed overall? What shapes does the struggle take? What prompts the feelings of despair? In what ways, if any, is the despair overcome? With what does the speaker struggle against despair; in other words, how does she try to conquer it? Give specific examples.

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