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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Oliver observe at the end of Work Sometimes?

2. What animal was featured in The Measure?

3. What had stacked up on the table in Work Sometimes?

4. What does Oliver say is NOT praying in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First?

5. In Everything, what are we told to look to for examination?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. At the end of Everything, what does Oliver say she wants her poems to do?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is prose poetry different from other forms, and what other effects did prose form have on the poems written in that style?

Essay Topic 2

Mary Oliver has an incredible gift for creating touching analogies. What are some of the analogies shared in these poems, and what are their deeper meanings?

Essay Topic 3

What are some of the particular animals that were included in these poems, and what did their inclusion do to the tone of the poems?

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