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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," what does the speaker claim to have been changed into?
(a) A honeycomb.
(b) A queen.
(c) A castle.
(d) A seraph.

2. In "Snake-Light," what is the rhetorical purpose of mentioning the butterflies?
(a) They symbolize transformation and the creation of life from death.
(b) They symbolize the lightness and freedom of shedding the body.
(c) They symbolize the lingering and then departure of the snake's spirit.
(d) They symbolize the beauty of the desert ecosystem.

3. In "Waist and Sway," to what type of building is the beloved compared?
(a) A ziggurat.
(b) A skyscraper.
(c) A church bell tower.
(d) An apartment.

4. In "I, Minotaur," who is Briareus?
(a) This is another name for Theseus.
(b) One of the Hecatoncheires.
(c) One of the people killed by the Minotaur.
(d) Ariadne's father.

5. In "Grief Work," where does the speaker say she has done her "grief work" (94)?
(a) At the edge of the reservation.
(b) Through her own wounds.
(c) In the Colorado River.
(d) With the beloved's body.

6. In "Waist and Sway," what page 78 diction choice indicates that the speaker feels punished or oppressed by her desire for the woman?
(a) "Moths."
(b) "Alchemists."
(c) "Pillory."
(d) "Amber."

7. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," what Russian-American poet is quoted?
(a) Joseph Brodsky.
(b) Walter Benton.
(c) Peter Orlovsky.
(d) Vladimir Nabokov.

8. In "I, Minotaur," which of the following phrases expresses the mixed nature of the Minotaur?
(a) "All that I have done and failed to do" (57).
(b) "You've heard me churn and later, yet knock and enter" (56).
(c) "For what erupts my badlands and my tired eyes in beauty" (56).
(d) "What question can I ask of the thing I am"? (57)

9. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," where does the speaker's recurring dream take place?
(a) In a New York hotel room.
(b) At the edge of the reservation.
(c) In her mother's kitchen.
(d) At a high-school basketball game.

10. In "The First Water Is the Body," what river does the author specifically discuss?
(a) The Colorado River.
(b) The Green River.
(c) The Blackfoot River.
(d) The Salmon River.

11. In the context of "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," in the expression "madre mías," what is the most likely reason that mía is made plural?
(a) This is how the acronym for "missing in action" is made plural in Spanish.
(b) The mother of someone named "Mia" is being discussed.
(c) To indicate more than one exclamation.
(d) More than one mother is being discussed.

12. In "I, Minotaur," what does the speaker call "lilac-lit pools of ablution" (57)?
(a) The desert flowers.
(b) Her self-inflicted wounds.
(c) The beloved's thighs.
(d) The light that she and her lover find together.

13. In "Grief Work," what does the speaker say she is giving up?
(a) Her culture.
(b) Her future.
(c) Her desire.
(d) Her sorrow.

14. In "Snake-Light," the speaker mentions "caliche" (82). What is caliche?
(a) A kind of ravine or gully.
(b) A sedimentary rock.
(c) A bone in a snake's tail.
(d) A desert insect.

15. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what number is described as "lucky" (42)?
(a) 6.
(b) 7.
(c) 4.
(d) 3.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," to what does the speaker compare the camera's aperture?

2. From its context in "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what can be assumed about the Hotchkiss and Springfield Model 1873?

3. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what American poet's death is mentioned?

4. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," the speaker describes something as "Maenad." What is this a reference to?

5. In "Snake-Light," what does the speaker compare writing to?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 618 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample