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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 does the narrator of "Requiescat" pray "will not rise again"?

2. In the poem "The Danger of Writing Defiant Verse," what does the narrator realize about her new lover?

3. What excuse does the narrator suggest would have been better to explain Mona's "illness"?

4. What three poets are the subject of "A Pig's-Eye View of Literature"?

5. During what year is the story "Just a Little One" set?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the allusions in the poem "Guinevere At Her Fireside."

2. Explain the allusions in the poem "Prayer for a New Mother."

3. How does the resolution of "Big Blonde" illustrate that Hazel's troubles are recurrent cycle?

4. What explains Miss Wilmarth's "curious expression" in the short story "Horsie"?

5. Describe the narrator's tone in the story "Just a Little One."

6. What kind of advice do the poems "Prologue to a Saga" and "The Lady's Reward" give to women?

7. Compare the poems "Star Light, Star Bright--" and "Purposely Ungrammatical Love Song." How are they similar?

8. Compare the poems "Surprise," "On Being A Woman," and "Second Love." What do they have in common?

9. What story is told through the poem "There Was One"?

10. How does Hazel Morse lose her own identity in her efforts to please others in the short story "Big Blonde"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Abortion is a word that does not appear in Dorothy Parker's writing, yet it appears as a motif in several of her stories. Analyze the way in which Parker deals with this taboo in her stories. How does she introduce the topic? How does she make this detail clear to the reader? How does the event affect the characters involved? What do the stories reveal about Parker's perspective on abortion and how it affects the men and women involved?

Essay Topic 2

Examine Dorothy Parker's "Self Portrait" and her letters. What do these pieces reveal about her as a person? How do these revelations compare to the themes and characters that she writes about? Be sure to include specific examples and quotations to support these observations.

Essay Topic 3

Examine Dorothy Parker's use of death imagery in both her short stories and her poetry. What purposes does this imagery serve? What themes do these images support? Be sure to use specific evidence and quotations to prove your observations.

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