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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Malcolm feel like upon arriving at Sylvia's former home in Part Two: Chapter IX?
(a) A tourist.
(b) A stalker.
(c) A schoolgirl.
(d) A paparazzi.

2. A. Alvarez claimed that Olwyn and Ted Hughes probably chose Anne Stevenson to write a biography on Sylvia because they could ______________.
(a) Believe in her.
(b) Feel good about themselves.
(c) Profit from her.
(d) Manipulate her.

3. What poem written by Sylvia Plath, originally collected in the posthumously published volume Ariel, describes the speaker's oppression with the use of World War II Nazi Germany allusions and images?
(a) The Night Dances.
(b) Sheep in Fog.
(c) Lady Lazarus.
(d) Poppies in October.

4. Anne Stevenson wrote that "it took me two unhappy marriages and ____ children to make me reconsider my assumptions."
(a) Two.
(b) Five.
(c) Three.
(d) One.

5. In a letter to her former lover at the end of their relationship, Sylvia told him, "Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything it is because we are dangerously near to wanting __________."
(a) One thing.
(b) Nothing.
(c) Death.
(d) Something.

6. What book did A. Alvarez write on the subject of divorce?
(a) Beyond All This Fiddle.
(b) Where Did It All Go Right?
(c) Day of Atonement.
(d) Life After Marriage.

7. Ted Hughes was outraged by Rose's inference that Plath questioned her sexual identity in what work?
(a) The Savage God.
(b) The Haunting of Sylvia Plath.
(c) Letters Home.
(d) Rabbit Catcher.

8. Where was Sylvia Plath's father from?
(a) Poland.
(b) Romania.
(c) Germany.
(d) Russia.

9. Almost every writer, Anne Stevenson concluded, has some form of depression which stems from the internal nagging that the writer was not _____________.
(a) Living up to their potential.
(b) Engaging the reader.
(c) Telling the truth.
(d) Pleasing their editor.

10. Immediately after Sylvia's suicide, whom did Elizabeth Sigmund blame?
(a) Olwyn Hughes.
(b) Clarissa Roche.
(c) Sylvia Plath.
(d) Ted Hughes.

11. Malcolm was surprised that Anne Stevenson confessed to having had a problem with what addiction?
(a) Men.
(b) Drug addiction.
(c) Gambling.
(d) Alcoholism.

12. When The Journals of Sylvia Plath were published, it left many thinking that the words and spirit of Sylvia had been ___________.
(a) Remembered.
(b) Repressed.
(c) Lies.
(d) Immortalized.

13. Where did Malcolm ask her taxi driver to detour on the way to interview Clarissa Roche?
(a) Paddock Wood.
(b) Wimborne Minster.
(c) North Tawton.
(d) Cleobury Mortimer.

14. The man whom Sylvia Plath was dating when she met Ted Hughes did not return her _____________.
(a) Love of literature.
(b) Mistrust of humanity.
(c) Love of art.
(d) Passion.

15. What poem from Ariel is written in nine 7-line stanzas, totaling sixty-three lines, and follows no rhyme scheme?
(a) Tulips.
(b) The Bee Meeting.
(c) Morning Song.
(d) Medusa.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of the man Sylvia was involved with when she met Ted Hughes?

2. The protagonist in The Bell Jar is from suburbs outside what city?

3. The author writes that biographers love letters since they are the fossils of ___________.

4. How did Trevor Thomas know Sylvia Plath?

5. Ted Hughes asked that Anne Stevenson keep Assia's story out of which book?

(see the answer keys)

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