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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the main subject of Everything?
(a) Transcendance.
(b) Nature.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Love.

2. Which of these is a line from The Measure?
(a) Ah, it's time.
(b) No, not now.
(c) Hush, be still.
(d) What shall we do?

3. What does the editor say new readers of Oliver will feel when they read the first section?
(a) They will get sucked in right away.
(b) They will feel like they have always known her.
(c) They are in for a surprise.
(d) They will be eased into the style.

4. Why did Oliver choose the tone she did at the beginning of Work Sometimes?
(a) She wanted it to seem as though the conversation was already in place.
(b) She wanted to set it apart from her other poems.
(c) She wanted the poem to flow easily.
(d) She wanted to draw the reader in.

5. What did the rain in Work Sometimes do to the flowers in the yard?
(a) Made them shine.
(b) Made them fragrant.
(c) Brought them out of the earth.
(d) Killed them.

Short Answer Questions

1. What should one be transcending according to Everything?

2. How does Oliver come to a better understanding of human nature?

3. What else does the editor say there is an absence of in the first section of poems?

4. What does the editor say is Oliver's signature on her work?

5. In Work sometimes, which of these does Oliver list as something that happiness is NOT?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about a catbird?

2. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what is personified in the last lines?

3. What is the main question Oliver asks in Work Sometimes?

4. How did Oliver feel at the beginning of Work Sometimes and why?

5. In The Measure, what does Mary Oliver say her watched over life resulted in and why?

6. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about a turtle?

7. In The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First, what is the bird doing at the beginning of the poem?

8. In Everything, what kind of words does Oliver say she wants to avoid in her poetry, and what examples of good words does she give?

9. In Work Sometimes, what does Oliver say happiness truly is?

10. In Everything, what does Oliver say she wants her poems to be able to do?

(see the answer keys)

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