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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. How does Oliver describe her poetry in Everything?

2. What are most of Oliver's precious poems about?

3. What does Oliver want to celebrate in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones?

4. Which of these words is used by the editor to describe Oliver's style?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First, what does Mary Oliver state the real method of praying should be?

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

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

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

6. What did Oliver do at the beginning of The Measure?

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

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

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

10. What does Oliver state the reader has probably felt before in Work Sometimes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Fear is a common theme in this book that is presented a number of times in a number of different poems. What are some of these instances, and how are these examples different from each other?

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the key examples of gratitude in this book, and how are these instances conveyed?

Essay Topic 3

Which of these poems did you relate most to, and why? What about that poem touched you in a personal way?

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