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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. What does the speaker in "Cross" wish in regard to his mother?
(a) He wishes she would just die so he can get his inheritance.
(b) He wishes her well.
(c) He wishes she finds happiness one day.
(d) He wishes she would just die so she doesn't have to suffer anymore.

2. What question does the Klan ask the speaker in "Ku Klux"?
(a) "How did you get here / Onto our great land?"
(b) "Do you believe / In the great white race?"
(c) "Are you afraid?"
(d) "Do you believe in God?"

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

4. What does the speaker claim is such a bore in "Ennui"?
(a) Being poor.
(b) Snores.
(c) Chores.
(d) Stores.

5. How does Madam want her name printed in "Madam's Calling Cards"?
(a) In "Roman."
(b) In Italian.
(c) In "American."
(d) In "Old English."

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the one thing the fortune teller in "Ballad of the Fortune Teller" couldn't see?

2. What is Madam's full name?

3. What does the speaker compare love to in "Lament over Love"?

4. Why is the speaker fired from his job in "Fired"?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What theme unites the poems in "Name in Uphill Letters"?

2. What does the speaker in "Hard Daddy" want to be an eagle?

3. Why does the speaker in "Third Degree" confess to police?

4. What problem does the U.S. Census worker have with Madam in "Madam and the Census Man"?

5. What does the stereotype of the poem "Uncle Tom" tap into?

6. What are three sub-themes that appear in "Note on Commercial Theater"?

7. What is the speaker talking about in "Note on Commercial Theater"?

8. What is the reader left to assume about how Madam makes money in the poems about her?

9. What historical figure might Madam Alberta K. Johnson be based upon?

10. What do both "Still Here" and "Me and the Mule" celebrate?

(see the answer keys)

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