View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Madam say she'd do before she pays the rent to her landlord in "Madam and the Rent Man"?
(a) Scrub all the floors in the house.
(b) Cook a nice dinner.
(c) Go to the bank.
(d) Go to Hades.

2. What 2 places does the speaker go to in "Young Gal's Blues"?
(a) The graveyard and the poor house.
(b) The doctor's office and the hospital.
(c) The beauty shop and the nail salon.
(d) The post office and the grocery store.

3. What is the little girl dreaming of in "To Be Somebody"?
(a) A dollhouse.
(b) A prince in a castle.
(c) A baby grand piano.
(d) A castle on a cloud.

4. How does the character in "Migrant" sign his paycheck?
(a) With his family's famous pen.
(b) With "a crayon, just like a child."
(c) In "uphill letters."
(d) With his own blood.

5. What does the speaker claim he, too, would do if he were a Gypsy?
(a) Wear beautiful, handmade clothes.
(b) Steal people's money.
(c) Travel the world.
(d) Be psychic.

6. Why is the speaker fired from his job in "Fired"?
(a) Because he stole from the company.
(b) Because he was ineffective at his job.
(c) Because he got in a fight with a coworker.
(d) Because he was late again.

7. Where does Madam dream of playing the numbers in "Madam and the Number Writer"?
(a) Out in public like white people.
(b) In heaven.
(c) Back in Atlanta with her family.
(d) In a very classy gambling club in Vegas.

8. According to the speaker in "To Be Somebody," where is there always room?
(a) In another's heart.
(b) In dreams.
(c) In one's own mind.
(d) At the top.

9. What sound does the speaker claim a dream deferred makes in "Dream Boogie"?
(a) A quiet whimper in the dark.
(b) A howling at the moon inside one's soul.
(c) A soft whisper in the night.
(d) A boogie-woogie rumble.

10. What does the speaker in "Porter" have to say all the time?
(a) "Yes, sir."
(b) "Thank you, ma'am."
(c) "Thank you, sir."
(d) "No, ma'am."

11. What does the speaker compare love to in "Lament over Love"?
(a) An earthquake.
(b) Poison.
(c) Alcohol.
(d) The ocean.

12. Why does the speaker in "Necessity" finally decide he has to work after all?
(a) Because he doesn't want to go to jail.
(b) Because he doesn't want to stay around his girlfriend all day.
(c) Because not working is actually kind of boring.
(d) Because he has to pay his rent.

13. How does the speaker first attempt suicide in "Life Is Fine"?
(a) By jumping off of a cliff.
(b) By jumping off of a building.
(c) By jumping in front of a train.
(d) By jumping into a river.

14. What job does Ruby Brown have when the poem of her same name starts?
(a) Working at a hospital.
(b) Working in the fields.
(c) Working in a library.
(d) Working in a white woman's kitchen.

15. What is the one thing the fortune teller in "Ballad of the Fortune Teller" couldn't see?
(a) When she was going to die.
(b) That her business was going to go bankrupt.
(c) Where her lover went.
(d) That she was going to be robbed.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the speaker claim is such a bore in "Ennui"?

2. What does the speaker wish the rent were in "Little Lyric (Of Great Importance)"?

3. What does the speaker in "Down and Out" want from her lover?

4. What four things does the speaker in "Necessity" say he must do (in the beginning of the poem)?

5. What does the speaker in "Cross" take back in regard to his father?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 616 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample