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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What question does Tolson ask in "The Mountain Climber"?
(a) Why the moon never shines on the mountain.
(b) Why the climber quits his job.
(c) How long it takes to climb a mountain.
(d) Why the climber risks his life.

2. What is the poem "Vesuvius" about?
(a) A volcano.
(b) A Greek god.
(c) A mountain.
(d) An earthquake.

3. Where do the workers in "The Shipwright" feel they are citizens of?
(a) Asia.
(b) Europe.
(c) Earth.
(d) Italy.

4. What will black people overcome according to "Tempo di Marcia"?
(a) Jim Crow laws.
(b) The earthquake of 1920.
(c) The fire of 1812.
(d) The new election.

5. Who are the bad men in America according to the poem "Rendezvous With America"?
(a) Politicians.
(b) Ku Klux Klan and anti-Semites.
(c) Lawyers.
(d) Republicans and Democrats.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does the skull the mountain climber finds belong to?

2. What do the wise people think of the hillmen's opinions in "Vesuvius"?

3. In "The Ballad of the Rattlesnake," what are the sharecroppers doing?

4. Who does the farmer in "Old Man Michael" blame for his bad crops?

5. Who does the man fight for in "The Furlough"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the bard in "The Bard of Addis Ababa."

2. What might the volcano's eruption signify in the poem "Vesuvius"?

3. Who are the bad people that Tolson mentions in his poem "Rendezvous with America," and why does he feel the need to mention them?

4. What message is Tolson trying to send with the blade in "The Damascus Bride"?

5. Why does the teacher die in "The Gallows"?

6. What is Tolson's final message to the reader in "Tempo di Marcia"?

7. How do different people view the world in "A Primer for Today"?

8. What might "The Shift of Gears" be a metaphor for?

9. What does Tolson believe the "new black man" embodies according to "Tempo Primo"?

10. What is the significance of the the sign in "The Town of Fathers" that reads "The Blackest Land / And The Whitest People"?

(see the answer keys)

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