View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of The Band's third album?

2. What magazine had an article "measuring Richard Manuel for a straight-jacket" (62)?

3. What is the "old American idea" that the worried man is stuck in according to Marcus?

4. What song does Marcus claim is Robert Johnson's most terrifying song?

5. Who said "I learned the words to Little Richard's songs the best I could and what I couldn't figure out didn't matter"?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the prologue, what four artists does Marcus say he will write about and why these performers?

2. In "The Band," why do the other members of the Band become known as Robbie Robertson's foil?

3. Describe Robert Johnson's musical career. How did his contemporaries feel about his abilities? Is his music still relevant?

4. According to Marcus in "The Band," how are Harmonica Frank and Robert Johnson relevant to The Band?

5. Just before "The Righteous Land," Marcus quotes from "We Can Talk About It Now." The storyteller in the song tells "there's no need to slave. The whip . . . is in the grave" (53). What type of imagery does this line have and what does it mean?

6. Why might "The Band" be subtitled "Pilgrim's Progress"?

7. In "Harmonica Frank - 1951," what exactly is the American spirit that Marcus believes Harmonica Frank brought to rock n' roll?

8. According to Marcus in "The Band," who is the storyteller in Big Pink and what is his story?

9. There are several dualisms that Marcus identifies the Band reflecting on in "The Righteous Land " section of "The Band." What are two of these dualisms and what aspect of America do they reflect?

10. Marcus analyzes Robert Johnson's "Stones in My Passway" in "Robert Johnson -1938." What is the song about and what are the tools that Johnson uses to create the mood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Randy Newman and Robert Johnson. How are their styles similar and different? How is their subject matter similar? Different? Imagery?

Essay Topic 2

Elvis is a man but he is also a symbol. In an essay discuss at least three concepts that Elvis came to symbolize. How does he symbolize these concepts? What did he do to reinforce these conceptions?

Essay Topic 3

In an essay explore the reasons that Greil Marcus would discuss, in the same section, the dark and funny music of Randy Newman, the light music of the Beach Boys, and the stark imagery of Raymond Chandler. What do they have in common? What makes them different? How does Randy Newman fit into the world of the Beach Boys and of Raymond Chandler?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,410 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample