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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the speaker stuck between in "Border Line"?

2. What country is NOT mentioned in any of the poems in "Sea and Land"?

3. Where is the dream a cocktail at in "Havana Dreams"?

4. What are the waves kissing in "Moonlight Night: Carmel"?

5. How does the woman in "Strange Hurt" wander in the cold during winter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the unspoken implication about Monroe in "Monroe's Blues"?

2. What does the speaker hope in the poem "Island"?

3. What is the poem "Fulfilment" about?

4. What do many of the poems in the "Afro-American Fragment" section of "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" have an undercurrent of?

5. What theme unites the poems in "Distance Nowhere"?

6. What is a Black Maria?

7. What does the use of the word "fragment" in a poem title imply?

8. What kind of imagery is most prevalent in the poems in the section "Sea and Land"?

9. What kind of feeling does "Dream Variations" help the "Afro-American Fragment" section conclude with?

10. What kind of tour does Hughes take the reader on in "Sea and Land"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the preacher that appears in "Sunday Morning Prophecy." Is he a good preacher? Bad preacher? Are his efforts to encourage his congregants to give freely in the collection plate altruistic or greedy? Is he helpful or judgmental (or both) of his congregants and congregation?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss why Hughes decided to name the section of "Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" that deals with the American South "Magnolia Flowers." Make sure to address the symbolism and imagery of a magnolia that Hughes taps into.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze 1) the tone of "50-50," 2) the relationship between the two characters in the poem, and 3) how the tone helps the reader better understand the relationship dynamics between these two characters. Make sure to include direct quotations from the poem to support your well-written thesis statement.

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This section contains 697 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample