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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. What is the purpose of the first poem in Transformations?
(a) To create the author as the wicked witch.
(b) To share a fairy tale about the author's son.
(c) To act as an introduction and explanation.
(d) To share a fairy tale about the author's daughter.

2. Who eats a magical snake in "The White Snake"?
(a) A queen.
(b) A king's servant.
(c) A king.
(d) A king's cook.

3. What is particularly depicted in "God's Backside"?
(a) A fire.
(b) Hot weather.
(c) A flood.
(d) Cold weather.

4. What myth is retold in "The Fire Thief"?
(a) Odysseus.
(b) Prometheus.
(c) Icarus.
(d) Persephone.

5. Who is portrayed as God in "The God-Monger"?
(a) The speaker herself.
(b) John Holmes.
(c) The speaker's father.
(d) The speaker's husband.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of the first part of The Book of Folly?

2. When was The Awful Rowing Toward God published?

3. What is the theme of "Snow"?

4. What is the first poem in Transformations?

5. What theme does the author explore in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sexton deal with Christianity in "The Jesus Papers"?

2. What inspired The Awful Rowing Toward God?

3. What is the focus of Sexton's version of "Cinderella"?

4. Why does Sexton end The Awful Rowing Toward God with the poem "The Rowing Endeth"?

5. Explain the premise of Transformations, and explain the title.

6. How does Sexton view her poetry in relation to her faith?

7. Why do so many of the poems in The Death Notebooks deal with spirituality and Christianity?

8. Explain Sexton's revision of "Rapunzel."

9. Why does The Awful Rowing Toward God begin with the poem "Rowing"?

10. What is the purpose of the poem "The Gold Key"?

(see the answer keys)

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