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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. In what time of day does "At the Fishhouses" take place?

2. What does the title character in "Manuelzinho" do?

3. What is Bishop's attitude toward the title character and his family in "Manuelzinho"?

4. What is a running theme in many of the poems in Cold Spring?

5. What does Bishop's uncommon vocabulary reflect about her settings?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two things is Bishop comparing in "Brazil, January 1, 1502"?

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

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

4. What is the significance of the title of "The Prodigal"?

5. How does Bishop portray water in the poems in North and South?

6. How would you characterize the speaker's relationship to the title character in "Manuelzinho"?

7. Why does Bishop use the structure of building each line upon the last in "Visits to St. Elizabeth's"?

8. In "Electrical Storm," why are the pearls twice described as dead?

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

10. How does Bishop feel about winter in "The Colder the Air"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several of Bishop's poems discuss what it means to be a traveler. Examine "Questions of Travel," "Brazil January 1, 1502," and one other poem on this subject. What is Bishop's relationship to travel and to the places she travels to? Why is she torn about it? Does she ultimately come to some resolution about the questions she poses?

Essay Topic 2

What does "12 O'Clock News" tell us about Bishop's unique powers of observation and her ability to see things from a different perspective? Why do you think she chose to present the items in terms of newspaper stories? Do you think she is merely being playful, or is this a more serious commentary on journalism? Use specific examples from the poem to support your claim.

Essay Topic 3

The New Poems section is comprised of four poems written shortly before Bishop's death. Do you see any connections among them? Do they differ in any way from the other poems in the text? Compare and contrast these poems with the poems in Poems Written in Youth. In what ways did the poet remain consistent, and in what ways did she change as a writer as she matured?

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