Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
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 mechanic in "The Shift of Gears" tell the narrator?
2. In "A Scholar Looks at an Oak," what happens to the tree's limbs?
3. Where does Tolson repeat the same stanzas of the poem "The Mountain Climber"?
4. What president is mentioned in "The Dictionary of the Wolf"?
5. How does the economist in "A Primer for Today" claim change occurs?
Short Essay Questions
1. How is hatred the downfall of white men in "The Blindness of Scorn"?
2. 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?
3. What does Tolson believe the "new black man" embodies according to "Tempo Primo"?
4. Why did Tolson decide to split "Dark Symphony" into titles that are musical movements?
5. How does Tolson describe the common people in "Rendezvous with America"?
6. How does the poem "The Mountain Climber" represent the struggle to acclimate to America?
7. How do different people view the world in "A Primer for Today"?
8. Describe Tolson's vision of a poet in the "The Poet."
9. What is the meaning of the bones of both the snake and the man are left in the dessert in "The Ballad of the Rattlesnake"?
10. In "A Scholar Looks at an Oak," how is the black man represented?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What impact did Lincoln have on Tolson's life? Choose examples from Tolson's poems that suggest what relationship Tolson had with Lincoln. Why does Tolson hold Lincoln in such high esteem?
Essay Topic 2
How does Tolson address the theme of America as a melting pot? Choose two examples of how this idea appears in his poems, and explain whether he believes the concept of the melting pot to be true.
Essay Topic 3
In the poem, "Libretto for the Republic of Liberia," Tolson compares America to the narrator's mother, Liberia to his wife, and Africa to his brother. What does Tolson mean by this comparison?
|
This section contains 747 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
