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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 poet of "Rendezvous With America" claim America will face?

2. How does the economist in "A Primer for Today" claim change occurs?

3. What does Tolson say forgetting is akin to in "Andante Sostenuto"?

4. What concept does the poem "Tempo Primo" discuss?

5. What does the historian want to know in "A Primer for Today"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator in "An Ex-Judge at the Bar" feel guilty, and how does he appease this guilt?

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

3. How does Tolson describe the common people in "Rendezvous with America"?

4. Why does no one listen to the hillman in the poem "Vesuvius"?

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

6. In "A Scholar Looks at an Oak," how is the black man represented?

7. List two important, historical people that Tolson mentions in "Rendezvous with America." Why does he mention these people, and what did they contribute to America?

8. How does the story of the sheep and the wolf in "The Dictionary of the Wolf" symbolize racism?

9. What will bring death to the narrator in "If You Should Lie to Me"?

10. Why did Tolson decide to split "Dark Symphony" into titles that are musical movements?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is metaphor? Define this term and cite three examples of where Tolson uses metaphor in his poetry. Explain how this metaphor lends to the overall message of the poem.

Essay Topic 2

What poem does the quote "The Blackest Land / And The Whitest People" come from? Explain the significance of this quote to the poem and how it explains the message of the poem.

Essay Topic 3

How does the setting effect the reader's experience of the poem? Does it matter that the poem is set in another country or time period? Describe the setting of the poem of you choice and explain how it effected your experience of the poem.

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