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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "Harlem Shadows," Lines 1-18.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In lines 2 and 3, the expression "when the night lets fall/ Its veil" is an example of which technique?
(a) Paradox.
(b) Simile.
(c) Personification.
(d) Antithesis.

2. What ideas are associated with the snow in this poem?
(a) Circumstance, poverty, and innocence.
(b) Heaven, purity, and nature.
(c) Punishment, corruption, and justice.
(d) Prejudice, indifference, and suffering.

3. In the first image of the sex workers, what is being emphasized?
(a) The burden of social expectations.
(b) Their reaction to the cold.
(c) Their determination.
(d) The motion of their bodies.

4. Whose presence is implied in "To bend and barter at desire's call" (line 4)?
(a) Pimps.
(b) Police officers.
(c) Clients.
(d) Bystanders.

5. What does the expression "feet of clay" in line 15 refer to?
(a) Stubbornness and selfishness.
(b) A hidden character flaw.
(c) A delicate, easily-fractured nature.
(d) Cowardice and fear.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which line most clearly echoes the tension between "little girls" (line 5) and "prowling" (line 6)?

2. Which two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?

3. Which techniques are evident in line 4, "To bend and barter at desire's call"?

4. In line 1, "footsteps of a lass" is an example of which technique?

5. What color does the speaker assign to the sex workers' feet?

(see the answer key)

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