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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 are we told to examine in Everything?

2. Which of the following is a line from Work Sometimes?

3. According to Oliver, what is the question mark's bold sister?

4. What poet did Oliver live with for a time?

5. How does the editor describe the thought put into these poems?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

5. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about the blue heron?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How were the themes of life and death shown together? Why do you think Oliver chose to present these themes in tangent with each other?

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 was the overall message being sent in Seven White Butterflies, and how was this theme presented?

(see the answer keys)

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