View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bishop display towards Moore in "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore"?

2. What is one question the poet asks in "Questions of Travel"?

3. What has Bishop arranged in "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore"?

4. Where did Bishop grow up?

5. What does the viewer hear in "View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is similar about the poems in North and South devoted to morning?

2. How are the poems in North and South devoted to morning different?

3. What surprise does Bishop reveal in the last line of "Insomnia?"

4. How does Bishop portray the hermit's loneliness in "Chemin de Fer"?

5. What is the meaning of the lines "I'm afraid if it's wheat it's none of your sowing" in "Letter to N.Y."?

6. How does the poet frame her journey in "Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance"?

7. What is the significance of the trees capturing the music in "View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress"?

8. Does Bishop see the ocean as ever-changing or never changing in the poems in Cold Spring?

9. What is Bishop comparing in "Large Bad Picture" when she refers to "commerce or contemplation"?

10. How is the writing style in "The Riverman" unlike most of Bishop's poems?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Letter to N.Y." and "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore" are both letters to friends of the poet in poetic form. How do these poems differ from the others in the collection? Consider the reader's knowledge about the speaker, the level of intimacy, and in what person the poems are composed. What is the overall effect of these differences on the reader? Do you think it is appropriate for these letters to be considered poetry in the same league with the rest of the collection? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Much of Bishop's poetry relates to geography. Citing specific poems, including "The Map," "Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance," "Brazil January 1, 1502," and the introduction to Geography III, discuss the importance of geography in Bishop's work. How does she see it? Why is it so important to her? How does it frame who she is, her subject matter, and her approach?

Essay Topic 3

Death is a common theme among the poems Bishop chose to translate, though rare among the poems she penned herself. Why do you think this is? Given what you know about Bishop as a writer based on the rest of the book, do you think this was a coincidence, or do you think she was attracted to poetry that dealt with death? What type of language does Bishop use when referring to death; does it vary from poem to poem? Does this section offer us any insight into her own thoughts about death, or only into the original poets' views on death?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 831 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample