View a FREE sample

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 name of the servant who usually gives Mr. Coulson his medication?

2. What is implied by the number of days for which Miss Coulson orders extra ice?

3. What does the narrator call the "most potent weapons of insidious May" (334)?

4. Why is Mr. Coulson so clumsy on the afternoon after the ice is delivered?

5. What is the "twist" at the end of this story?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

2. How does O. Henry use dry humor to reveal the narrator's opinion about Mrs. Widdup in the narrative intrusion on page 333?

3. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

4. How does O. Henry use verbal misunderstandings to characterize Mrs. Widdup when she first appears in Mr. Coulson's room?

5. When Mr. Coulson finally confesses his feelings to Mrs. Widdup, what drawback to himself does he acknowledge, and what advantage does he say balances this drawback out?

6. Explain the significance of the diction "foxy" to describe Mrs. Widdup (333).

7. Explain the titular allusion and the allusion to "the poet" in the first sentence of the story.

8. What is the thematic significance of the olfactory image of the city in springtime?

9. What is the rhetorical purpose of the allusions to Puck and Circe?

10. When Mr. Coulson complains that no one in the house cares if he lives or dies, how does Mrs. Widdup's reply set the events of the story in motion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that compares and contrasts the themes and techniques used in Dekker's poem "The Merry Merry Month of May" with those of O. Henry's "The Marry Month of May." Use textual evidence from both pieces to defend your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a thesis about the significance of social class in "The Marry Month of May." Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you affirm, refute, or qualify the statement "The month of May functions essentially as another character in "The Marry Month of May." Offer textual evidence to support your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,139 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample