View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What are cantos?

2. At the beginning of Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond, what does Oliver say she is humbled by?

3. Which of these is a line from Seven White Butterflies?

4. What does Oliver say would make the mocker silent in Daisies?

5. What does Oliver say is indefinable in The Soul At Last?

Short Essay Questions

1. In While I am Writing a Poem to Celebrate Summer, the Meadowlark Begins to Sing, what does Oliver say she has envied her whole life?

2. In Mindful, what does Oliver say she was born to do?

3. What is compared in Many Miles?

4. What does Oliver say the owl is symbolic of in At Round Pond?

5. In Prose Poem 2, what does Oliver say about narrative, and how does this change the feeling of the poem?

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

7. What does Oliver talk about in Bleeding Heart?

8. What are some of the questions asked in How Would You Live Then?

9. What is the overall feeling in Prose Poem 1?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Religion was a theme that was touched on a number of times in this book. Where did this theme appear, and what are some of the different ways this theme was introduced?

Essay Topic 3

How does Mary Oliver change through the progression of these poems, and what causes these changes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 658 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample