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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the rhyme scheme of the first five stanzas of "One Art"?
(a) AAA.
(b) ABB.
(c) AAB.
(d) ABA.

2. Which is a reasonable statement of how the punctuation and syntax of the final stanza affect the stanza's tone?
(a) They create a choppy sound that indicates anger.
(b) They create a rolling rhythm that invokes the light, carefree tone of a nursery rhyme.
(c) They accelerate the pace as the stanza unfolds, creating a sense of urgency.
(d) They slow its pace and create a sense of uncertainty.

3. Stanzas four through six have which techniques in common?
(a) Second person and imperative mood.
(b) First person and imperative mood.
(c) Second person and indicative mood.
(d) First person and indicative mood.

4. What is the verb mood of line 4, "Lose something every day"?
(a) Subjunctive.
(b) Interrogative.
(c) Imperative.
(d) Indicative.

5. Who is the author of "One Art"?
(a) Lucille Clifton.
(b) Sylvia Plath.
(c) Elizabeth Bishop.
(d) Audre Lourde.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of metrical foot is the most frequent in "One Art"?

2. What is a reasonable statement to make about the effect of the enjambment in lines 8 and 9, "places, and names, and where it was you meant/ to travel"?

3. What does the colon at the end of line 7, "Then practice losing farther, losing faster," indicate about the "places, and names" in line 8?

4. What is used for the first time in the poem's final stanza?

5. How many stanzas does "One Art" have?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the speaker's diction increase the emotional stakes as the poem progresses?

2. How does the speaker arrange the examples of things that can be lost?

3. To whom is the parenthetical comment "(Write it!)" addressed in line 19, and how does this comment impact the reader's understanding of the poem?

4. On the surface level, what is the main message of "One Art"?

5. Describe the form of "One Art."

6. How does the change in stanza structure in the final stanza mimic the poem's changing meaning?

7. Which two verb moods are used in "One Art," and where are they employed?

8. What is the poem's dominant meter, and how is it regularly interrupted?

9. What difference is there in the way the two refrain lines are repeated throughout the poem?

10. What are the refrains employed in "One Art"?

(see the answer keys)

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