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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Toward the end of her life, according to Alvarez, Sylvia Plath developed a problem with ___________.
(a) Hygiene.
(b) Animals.
(c) Schizophrenia.
(d) Fear.

2. Where did Janet Malcolm travel to meet with Anne Stevenson in Part Two: Chapter I?
(a) Shirebrook, England.
(b) Helmsley, England.
(c) Beaconsfield, England.
(d) Durham, England.

3. What did Sylvia Plath leave for her children when they awoke the night she killed herself?
(a) Bread and milk.
(b) Milk and cookies.
(c) A note.
(d) Their backpacks.

4. What is the term used for a novel describing real life, behind a façade of fiction?
(a) Biography.
(b) Autobiography.
(c) Roman a clef.
(d) Nonfiction fiction.

5. What did Olwyn Hughes claim was something Sylvia's mother had never addressed and, in fact, enabled for years?
(a) Tooth decay.
(b) Promiscuity.
(c) Lack of exercise.
(d) Mental illness.

6. When was the novel The Bell Jar first published under Sylvia Plath's name?
(a) 1962.
(b) 1970.
(c) 1967.
(d) 1973.

7. How did Sylvia Plath commit suicide?
(a) She hung herself.
(b) She gassed herself.
(c) She overdosed.
(d) She shot herself.

8. How was Anne Stevenson viewed by the author and her peers while at the university?
(a) She was detested.
(b) She was admired.
(c) She was considered ignorant.
(d) She was untrusted.

9. What university did Sylvia Plath attend in England?
(a) Exeter University.
(b) Rhodes University.
(c) Oxford University.
(d) Cambridge University.

10. A. Alvarez noted that toward the end of her life, Sylvia's once reserved persona was replaced with an aggressive one, most apparent when she was doing what activity?
(a) Delivering readings of her poetry.
(b) Addressing critics.
(c) Arguing.
(d) Reciting the Bible.

11. Sylvia Plath told A. Alvarez of two previous suicide attempts--one in which she took an overdose of pills and another when she _____________.
(a) Played Russian roulette.
(b) Cut her wrist.
(c) Almost drove off the road.
(d) Attempted to hang herself.

12. Who applauded Wagner-Martin for not caving to the demands of the "evil" sister as Anne Stevenson had done?
(a) A. Alvarez.
(b) Anne Stevenson.
(c) Ronald Hayman.
(d) Ted Hughes.

13. How many words did Ted Hughes cut from Linda Wagner-Martin's manuscript?
(a) 1,800.
(b) 15,000.
(c) 3,700.
(d) 11,000.

14. When Anne Stevenson wrote her biography of Sylvia Plath, she found that she and Sylvia had gone through the same teen-aged angst and sexual frustrations of the American youth of what era?
(a) 1950s.
(b) 1920's.
(c) 1940's.
(d) 1930's.

15. Who edited The Journals of Sylvia Plath?
(a) Frances McCullough.
(b) Assia Wevill.
(c) Anne Stevenson.
(d) Ted Hughes.

Short Answer Questions

1. A. Alvarez's remarks placed Sylvia's suicide in what type of scenario?

2. Where was A. Alvarez born?

3. Sylvia had told her mother about the dismal kitchens and ____________ in England.

4. A. Alvarez was initially much more impressed with Ted--thinking of Sylvia as __________.

5. In 1952, William Stanley Merwin's first book of poetry was published under what title?

(see the answer keys)

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