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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. In Forty Years, what does Oliver say she struggles with?

2. What is the tone of While I Am Writing a Poem to Celebrate Summer, the Meadowlark Begins to Sing?

3. Which of these is a line from Spring?

4. What does Oliver call the center of the daisies in Daisies?

5. In How Would You Live Then, what does Oliver say gives prayers?

Short Essay Questions

1. In While I am Writing a Poem to Celebrate Summer, the Meadowlark Begins to Sing, what does Oliver compare the meadowlark's song to?

2. In Grass, what does Oliver say is the most important time of all, and why?

3. What is Oliver admonishing the reader to do in How Would You Live Then?

4. What does Oliver talk about in Bleeding Heart?

5. What is the main message of Song of the Builders?

6. In Grass, what does Oliver say nature does?

7. Which authors does Oliver mention in Seven White Butterflies, and why?

8. How does Oliver describe the spirit in The Soul At Last?

9. In May, what does Oliver say makes her feel most alive?

10. In Mindful, where does Oliver say she gets all of her teaching?

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

What role does symbolism play in these poems, and what are some of the major symbols presented?

Essay Topic 3

What are some of the main examples of irony from these poems? How do these moments of irony change the tone of those poems?

(see the answer keys)

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