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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. Queen Blenda's favorite hobby is ______ .
(a) Knitting.
(b) Bird watching.
(c) Singing.
(d) Riding.

2. Kinbote is steadfast in his assertion that "Pale Fire" was intended to be how many lines long?
(a) 334.
(b) 1000.
(c) 166.
(d) 999.

3. How does King Charles get out of the room where he is being held prisoner without being detected?
(a) He makes a rope ladder and climbs out the window.
(b) He disguses himself as a guard and walks out the front door.
(c) He seduces a guard who sets him free.
(d) He escapes through a secret passageway.

4. "Forty ounces of fine sand" describes what in Canto One?
(a) The texture of a windowpane.
(b) Snow falling from the sky.
(c) A length of time.
(d) A bird's nest.

5. In lines 936 and 937 of "Pale Fire" the phrase "I plow Old Zembla's fields" is used by John Shade as part of a metaphor for what literal activity?
(a) The changing seasons.
(b) Revisiting his Zemblan ancestry .
(c) Shaving.
(d) His relationship with his wife.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which best describes Kinbote's reason for rejecting the offer by the first potential publisher of "Pale Fire"?

2. John Shade's aunt is best described as what?

3. How many lines are in Canto Four?

4. What does Kinbote give John Shade for his birthday?

5. John Shade comes to the realization that he can not find what at the I.P.H.?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe John Shade's writing process.

2. How does John Shade describe himself as a youth in Canto One?

3. Briefly describe John Shade's vision of the after-life.

4. How is Kinbote critical of Professor Hurley?

5. How does John Shade understand life?

6. Give some examples of translation as a theme in Canto One.

7. What are two major criticisms John Shade has of his students? How is this ironic?

8. Name some sports at which Kinbote is proficient.

9. What do we learn about John Shade's Aunt Maud in Canto One?

10. How is Kinbote's birthday gift for Shade representative of Kinbote's commentary of the poem?

(see the answer keys)

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