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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 does the speaker in "Porter" have to say all the time?

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

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 many men are helping plan the parade in "Parade"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What one notable thing does the poem "Daybreak" address in the "Magnolia Flowers" section that the others do not?

3. What comparison is made in "Me and the Mule"?

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

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

6. What is the history of the word "mulatto," as evidenced in the poem of the same name?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast 2 poems in the section "Lament Over Love," paying particular attention to their portrayal of men.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss 3 rhetorical devices Hughes uses to transform the historical person Billie Holiday to the literary person in the poem of the same name.

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