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

2. Which line most clearly echoes the tension between "little girls" (line 5) and "prowling" (line 6)?
(a) Line 11, "The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet."
(b) Line 7, "Through the long night until the silver break."
(c) Line 12, "Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street."
(d) Line 9, "Through the lone night until the last snow-flake."

3. Which techniques are evident in line 4, "To bend and barter at desire's call"?
(a) Personification and asyndeton.
(b) Asyndeton and euphony.
(c) Alliteration and personification.
(d) Euphony and alliteration.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What ideas are associated with the snow in this poem?

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

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?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Describe the form of this poem.

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

(see the answer keys)

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