View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Oliver compare picking the right words to in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones?
(a) Growing a garden.
(b) Sorting money.
(c) Picking fruit.
(d) Threading a needle.

2. What does Oliver call the things in life that are not human?
(a) Partners.
(b) Others.
(c) Co-inhabitants.
(d) Non-humans.

3. How does Oliver come to a better understanding of human nature?
(a) She looks to non-human examples.
(b) She meditates.
(c) She observes the ocean tides.
(d) She talks to people of different ages.

4. What were the feet of the animal compared to in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First?
(a) Butter.
(b) Sand.
(c) The Sun.
(d) Flowers.

5. What does using nature in her poems allow Oliver to do?
(a) Broaden her range.
(b) Open minds.
(c) Accept responsibility.
(d) Set forth an interpretation.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Everything, what does Oliver compare elaboration to?

2. How was the poet traveling when she saw an animal in The Measure?

3. What does the editor say new readers of Oliver will feel when they read the first section?

4. What is the turtle in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, doing?

5. What does Oliver like to assign to inanimate objects in her poems?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In Everything, where are some of the places Oliver states she wants to go when she writes?

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

4. 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?

5. In The Measure, how does Oliver say the turtle came to choose its course of travel for the day Oliver saw it?

6. What does Oliver say she wants to honor with her poem, Everything?

7. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver say about the pond?

8. What did the turtle in The Measure do when Oliver stopped to help it?

9. What does Oliver think the turtle was heading for in The Measure?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 716 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample