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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 is the last poem in Live or Die?

2. What is the subject of "Those Times"?

3. What is the tone of "Sylvia's Death"?

4. What is the lover compared to in "Mr. Mine"?

5. How many sections are in "The Operation"?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. One theme in All the Pretty Ones is the idea that poetry is catharsis. Why might poetry be catharsis for Sexton?

3. Why do you think Part 2 of To Bedlam and Part Way Back only contains three poems?

4. 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"?

5. What does the preface of Live or Die reveal about the poems in it?

6. What is the focus of Part 2 of To Bedlam and Part Way Back?

7. Explain how Sexton uses religion in All the Pretty Ones.

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

9. How does the collection Love Poems fit in with Sexton's other work?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the poems in Posthumously Published Work fit into the larger scope of Sexton's poems? How do they stand out?

Essay Topic 2

Explain how The Awful Rowing Toward God can be considered Sexton's suicide note.

Essay Topic 3

What role does religion/spirituality, particularly Christianity, play in Sexton's poetry?

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