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

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

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

4. In line 16, what word does the speaker use to describe the feet of his own race?
(a) Sacred.
(b) Aching.
(c) Prideful.
(d) Fearful.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?

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

5. Which lines of each stanza are indented?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe the form of this poem.

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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