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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. What question does the number runner ask Madam in "Madam and the Number Writer"?

2. What children's rhyme does the speaker mention in "Children's Rhymes"?

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

4. What does the speaker in "Little Old Letter" claim pen and paper have the power to do?

5. How much of his paycheck does the character's buddy have to give to his mother?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the commonality between all of the poems in "Lament Over Love"?

3. How are men portrayed in the poems in "Lament Over Love"?

4. Why do some of the women in the "Lament Over Love" section claim to still participate in bad relationships with men?

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

6. How does Madam prefer to handle her suitors?

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

8. How do the poems in "Life Is Fine" treat life's trials and tribulations?

9. What observation does the speaker make about the people riding the subway in "Subway Rush Hour"?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Sylvester in "Sylvester's Death Bed" and discuss 1) the role(s) women play in the poem, 2) Sylvester's attitude about the women surrounding him, and 3) the meaning behind why Sylvester dies right before he is able to "hug 'em."

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 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?

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