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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 is the verb mood of line 4, "Lose something every day"?

2. In line 7, "Then practice losing farther, losing faster," rhythm is created through which devices?

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

4. Stanzas four through six have which techniques in common?

5. What technique is employed in line 16, "Even losing you"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe the form of "One Art."

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

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

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

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

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or qualifies the following statement: "Elizabeth Bishop's poem 'One Art' fails to convey emotion due to a lack of imagery and strongly connotative diction."

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that explicates the musicality of "One Art." Be sure to explain how the devices you name and explain create meaning within the context of the text as a whole. Support your claims with quoted evidence from the text.

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