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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 8 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does the word "shod" in line 12 refer to?
(a) Sound.
(b) Clothing.
(c) Footwear.
(d) Movement.

3. Which two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?
(a) The second and fourth.
(b) The fifth and sixth.
(c) The first and sixth.
(d) The first and third.

4. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?
(a) Thick-soled shoes that make them appear taller.
(b) Boots meant to protect them from snow and rain.
(c) Elaborate shoes with high heels.
(d) Light shoes meant to be worn indoors.

5. Which lines of each stanza are indented?
(a) The fifth and sixth.
(b) The first and sixth.
(c) The first and third.
(d) The second and fourth.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the expression "feet of clay" in line 15 refer to?

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

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

4. What is being referred to with the expression "silver break" (line 7)?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the form of this poem.

2. What does the poem conclude is the cause of the women's choice to pursue sex work?

3. How does the use of the word "prowling" contrast with the poem's previous descriptions of the women?

4. What indications does the speaker give that he feels the sex workers' choices indicate something about all Black people in America?

5. How does McKay convey the idea that these women are sex workers?

6. What is the poem's first image, and how does it set a tone for the rest of the poem?

7. How does the second stanza set up a contrast between dark and light?

8. Where is Harlem and why is it significant to the meaning of this poem?

(see the answer keys)

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