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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 speaker tortured by in "The Room of My Life"?

2. "Words" is a poem about the ______ of language.

3. What is the last story in Transformations?

4. How many poems are in the collection "O Ye Tongues"?

5. How many poems are in the first part of The Book of Folly?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When was The Awful Rowing Toward God published, and how does that affect the poems in it?

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

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

5. 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.

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

7. What is the source material for "The Jesus Papers?" How does Sexton use this source material?

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

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

10. Why might Sexton's poem "Sleeping Beauty (Briar Rose)" have special significance for her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how the arrangement of the poems in Sexton's collections contributes to the reader's experience.

Essay Topic 2

Explain Sexton's obsession with death, particularly as it relates to her poetry.

Essay Topic 3

Explain how Sexton weaves her personal and poetic lives together. Explain how they are set against each other.

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