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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. Where is the author at the beginning of "The Death Baby"?

2. How many messiahs is Mary pregnant with in "Mary's Song"?

3. How many sections is "The Death Baby" divided into?

4. Where is the speaker headed in "Rowing"?

5. Whose Biblical story is retold in "Making a Living"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the main theme of The Book of Folly? Is the theme of The Book of Folly treated the same as in her other work?

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

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

4. Where does Sexton search for God in The Awful Rowing Toward God? Does she find him?

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

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

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

8. How does Sexton inject herself into the final poem of "The Jesus Papers?" Why does she do this?

9. Other than showing Sexton's emotional and mental instability, how is The Death Notebooks different in the arc of her work? Give at least two examples.

10. What inspired The Awful Rowing Toward God?

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 Live or Die is different from Sexton's other collections.

Essay Topic 3

Explain Anne Sexton's mental health, especially as it relates to her poetry.

(see the answer keys)

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