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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does the speaker's daughter cry out for when she is in an accident in "Pain for a Daughter"?
(a) God.
(b) Her father.
(c) Her mother (the speaker).
(d) She does not cry out.

2. How many poems are in the first part of All My Pretty Ones?
(a) Nine.
(b) Thirteen.
(c) Four.
(d) Ten.

3. What is the subject of "Again and Again and Again"?
(a) A woman scorned.
(b) Calling specific memories to mind.
(c) Returning to a lover.
(d) Longing for a lover.

4. Who bathes in the river in "It Is a Spring Afternoon"?
(a) The speaker's husband.
(b) Blind men.
(c) The speaker's lover.
(d) The speaker.

5. What is the subject of "The Operation"?
(a) Lobotomy.
(b) Abortion.
(c) Biopsy.
(d) Amputation.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does the author decide to endure the pains of life for in the last poem in Live or Die?

2. In what year were the letters written that inspired "Walking in Paris"?

3. In "For Eleanor Boylan Talking With God," what does the speaker witness a woman doing?

4. What changes does "The Double Image" follow?

5. In what month does "Eighteen Days Without You" take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of ending Part 1 of To Bedlam and Part Way Back with the poem "A Story For Rose On the Midnight Flight To Boston"?

2. What are the two major themes dealt with in Live or Die, and how are they dealt with?

3. How does Sexton's poetry put the reader in the middle of her life?

4. In All My Pretty Ones, Sexton uses more of a third person narrative approach with some of the poems. Why would this be difficult in confessional poetry?

5. Explain the use of animals in the poem "Loving the Killer."

6. What is the significance of the title Live or Die?

7. Explain Sexton's retelling of the Icarus myth in "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph."

8. What is the significance of the final poem of the book?

9. Compare and contrast "The Interrogation of the Man of Many Hearts" with "For My Lover, Returning to His Wife."

10. How do the poems in Live or Die reflect Sexton's mental and emotional health?

(see the answer keys)

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