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

2. What kind of hands does Oliver hope to write her poetry with?
(a) Busy hands.
(b) Rough hands.
(c) Quiet hands.
(d) Useful hands.

3. What should one be transcending according to Everything?
(a) Nature.
(b) Barriers.
(c) Restrictions.
(d) Language.

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

5. What had stacked up on the table in Work Sometimes?
(a) Books.
(b) All of these.
(c) Work.
(d) Papers.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What kind of citizen did the poet call the animal in The Measure?

3. How many poems are in the first section?

4. How does Oliver say Everything first came to her?

5. How do the characters in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones feel about the events in the poem?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Oliver compare the feet of the hawk to in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First?

2. What did Mary Oliver compare the hawk in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First to when it was in the grass?

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

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

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 did Oliver do at the beginning of The Measure?

7. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about a seed grain?

8. What did the hawk do at the end of The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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