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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does the speaker think the distance is between "here and there" in the poem "Border Line"?
(a) Everywhere.
(b) In his own mind.
(c) The red line of the subway.
(d) Nowhere.

2. Who is sitting in the amen-corner of the church in "Prayer Meeting"?
(a) A family.
(b) Jesus himself.
(c) A homeless man asking for help.
(d) An old black woman.

3. Where is Happiness in "Heaven"?
(a) Everywhere.
(b) None of these answers is correct.
(c) Both of these answers are correct.
(d) Nowhere.

4. What does the speaker claim people do on the sea in "Long Trip"?
(a) Swim and float.
(b) Sail and wail.
(c) Dip and dive.
(d) Flip and fly.

5. Who sends the speaker a letter in "Personal"?
(a) His mother.
(b) The devil.
(c) God.
(d) His wife.

6. Where does Aunt Sue get her stories from in "Aunt Sue's Stories"?
(a) Her own life.
(b) The radio.
(c) A book.
(d) The TV.

7. What does the woman's pain tell her to do in "Strange Hurt"?
(a) "You'll find rain better / Than shelter from the rain."
(b) "Walk through the fire / To better know the rain."
(c) "Go outside / To understand your inner turmoil."
(d) "Bathe in the river / As those before you have done."

8. What does the speaker say is a strong thing in "Spirituals"?
(a) Hatred.
(b) Song.
(c) Water.
(d) Nature.

9. Who does Hughes dedicate "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" to?
(a) His cousin, Flora.
(b) Martin Luther King, Jr.
(c) His father, Langston.
(d) His uncle, Malcom.

10. What did the speaker's lover in "Lover's Return" come home to do?
(a) Cook.
(b) Cry.
(c) Die.
(d) Sleep.

11. Why is the speaker so concerned about her lover in "Lover's Return"?
(a) Because he lost his job.
(b) Because he was in a car accident.
(c) Because he looks so sick.
(d) Because he has suddenly gone blind.

12. What "mellows to a golden note" in "Trumpet Player"?
(a) Happiness.
(b) Rage.
(c) Trouble.
(d) Music.

13. What is all that a snail knows in "Snail"?
(a) Weather and rose.
(b) The bottom of people's shoes.
(c) Sunrise and sunset.
(d) Shell and no shell.

14. What country is NOT mentioned in any of the poems in "Sea and Land"?
(a) Ireland.
(b) England.
(c) Thailand.
(d) Cuba.

15. When did Langston Hughes live?
(a) 1960 - 2003.
(b) 1935 - 1998.
(c) 1902 - 1964.
(d) 1802 - 1864.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who selected the poems in "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes"?

2. What is the drum saying to life in "Drum"?

3. In the poem "Catch," what is Big Boy carrying on his shoulders?

4. Where did the speaker in "Late Last Night" sit and cry?

5. In "Water-Front Streets," where does the speaker claim to carry "beauties"?

(see the answer keys)

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