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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 should separate the rose and the thorn in "The Unknown Soldier"?

2. What is the man in "A Hamlet Rives Us" doing during the poem?

3. What do the townspeople become interested in during the poem "The Street Called Straight"?

4. What warnings did the man see while climbing the mountain?

5. Who are the bad men in America according to the poem "Rendezvous With America"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Babylon symbolize America in the poem "Babylon"?

2. What is the lesson that Tolson puts forth in "When Great Dogs Fight"?

3. Why is it important that Tolson does not identify the race of the person who tells the story in "The Ballad of the Rattlesnake"?

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

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

6. How does the poem "The Mountain Climber" represent the struggle to acclimate to America?

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

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

9. What is the purpose of the use of religion in "Rendezvous with America"?

10. How does Tolson demonstrate that Crispus Attucks is a hero in "Allegro Moderato"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Choose two significant events Tolson mentions in "Rendezvous With America." What are these events and why does Tolson include them in this poem?

Essay Topic 3

Why is the word tapestries important in the poem "Tapestries of Time"?

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