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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Oliver choose the simple titles for her poems?
(a) To make her thoughts obscure.
(b) To guide the reader.
(c) To leave the interpretation open.
(d) To take the guesswork away from the reader.

2. In Everything, what does Oliver say she has faith in?
(a) Herself.
(b) Her words.
(c) Her art.
(d) Her God.

3. When did the poet say the animal in The Measure had began her journey?
(a) In the middle of the night.
(b) When she was first born.
(c) In the early morning.
(d) Shortly before she appeared.

4. What is the turtle in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, doing?
(a) Dying.
(b) Burying her eggs.
(c) Swimming in the lake.
(d) Teaching her babies to swim.

5. How does Oliver use plants and animals in her poems?
(a) They are her distractions.
(b) They are her friends.
(c) They are her foils.
(d) They are her focal point.

6. Which of these is a line from The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First?
(a) Where can we turn for peace?
(b) How does one see and turn away.
(c) How can we be as they?
(d) Where does it go and why?

7. How is the animal featured in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First described in the first lines?
(a) Small.
(b) Gentle.
(c) Soaring.
(d) Robust.

8. What does the editor say there is an absence of in the first section of poems?
(a) Deep analogies.
(b) Metaphors.
(c) Inside jokes.
(d) Anachronisms.

9. How does the editor describe the thought put into these poems?
(a) Omniscient.
(b) Microscopic.
(c) Effervescent.
(d) Exuberant.

10. What style is Work Sometimes written in?
(a) First Person.
(b) Second Person.
(c) Conversational.
(d) Omniscient.

11. Which of the following is not a place Oliver says she wants to be while writing her poems in Everything?
(a) Her own house.
(b) A field of daisies.
(c) A boat at sea.
(d) A spot of grass.

12. What does Oliver try to provide multiple avenues for in her poems?
(a) Tonality.
(b) Interpretation.
(c) Modality.
(d) Thought provocation.

13. How does the editor describe the language in the first section of poems?
(a) Adorned.
(b) Descriptive.
(c) Basic.
(d) Imaginative.

14. How are the poems in this book grouped together?
(a) By length.
(b) By subject matter.
(c) By publishing date.
(d) By random order.

15. What kind of citizen did the poet call the animal in The Measure?
(a) Shy.
(b) Voracious.
(c) Unknown.
(d) Elderly.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of these is a line from The Measure?

2. What were the feet of the animal compared to in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First?

3. What kind of words does Oliver hope to find while writing in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones?

4. What is the first plant talked about in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones?

5. How does Oliver describe her poetry in Everything?

(see the answer keys)

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