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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the poem "Fire," what does the author think fire is going to do?
(a) Burn his house down.
(b) Clean his sins away.
(c) Burn his soul.
(d) Burn his crops.

2. What is Big Boy going to do with the object on his shoulders in "Catch"?
(a) Marry her.
(b) Leave it at God's doorstep.
(c) Drop him off at school.
(d) Sell it at the market.

3. What is the sign that the speaker of "Bad Morning" is indeed having a bad morning?
(a) Too many bills on the kitchen table.
(b) A broken-down car.
(c) A note from his lover saying she's leaving.
(d) Mismated shoes.

4. What is Joy driving in "Joy"?
(a) A horse-drawn carriage.
(b) An imaginary buggy.
(c) A fancy car.
(d) The butcher's cart.

5. What supernatural figure appears in the poem "Sunday Morning Prophecy"?
(a) Fairies.
(b) Devils.
(c) Wizards.
(d) Ghosts.

6. What nickname does Sylvester give himself in "Sylvester's Dying Bed"?
(a) Sly Syl.
(b) Sweet Papa 'Vester.
(c) Sylvest the Best.
(d) Saint Sylvester.

7. Who selected the poems in "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes"?
(a) Langston Hughes himself.
(b) His mom.
(c) His editor.
(d) His wife.

8. What does the title "Litany" refer to?
(a) A city in the South.
(b) A city in Africa.
(c) A prayer.
(d) All of these answers are correct.

9. What is Hughes known as being the originator of?
(a) Jazz poetry.
(b) Modernist poetry.
(c) Slam poetry.
(d) African American poetry.

10. What did the speaker do with his nickel in "Midnight Raffle"?
(a) Take his wife to a midnight movie.
(b) Use it to catch a cab at midnight.
(c) Put it in a raffle.
(d) Invest it.

11. What did the speaker's lover do in "Late Last Night" that caused his/her heart to break?
(a) Look at him/her cross-eyed.
(b) Lost all their money gambling.
(c) Had an affair.
(d) Died.

12. What is curved beneath Big Boy's arm in "Catch"?
(a) A Bible.
(b) His son's teddy bear.
(c) The mermaid's tail.
(d) A few extra-long pieces of wheat.

13. In the poem "Fire," who does the author say he has had more women than?
(a) Than the president had votes.
(b) Than the forest had trees.
(c) Than Pharoah had wives.
(d) Than the gardener had tomatoes.

14. When was "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" published?
(a) 1999.
(b) 1859.
(c) 1958.
(d) 1899.

15. When the speaker asks his lover if she understands him in "Maybe," what does she say?
(a) That she didn't.
(b) That she thought she would.
(c) Both of these answers are correct.
(d) Neither of these answers is correct.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is sitting in the amen-corner of the church in "Prayer Meeting"?

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

3. Which of the following does the speaker NOT claim to have been in "Negro"?

4. How are the poems in "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" organized?

5. What race was Langston Hughes?

(see the answer keys)

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