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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. Stanzas four through six have which techniques in common?

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

3. What is different about the final stanza of "One Art"?

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

5. Which is a reasonable statement of how the punctuation and syntax of the final stanza affect the stanza's tone?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Describe the form of "One Art."

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the rhyme scheme of "One Art." Support your argument with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that analyzes the purpose of the synecdoche and metonymy used in lines 16 and 17. Identify where these techniques are used, explain the effect they create, and then explain how this effect supports the meaning of the overall poem. Support your claims with quoted evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Do some more reading about Bishop's life, and then write an essay in which you demonstrate how understanding information from her biography clarifies some puzzling aspect of "One Art." You should clearly identify which element of the poem is puzzling--and why--before explaining how the author's biography might function as a key to unlock the mystery. Support your argument with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text, and cite your sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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