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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At what meeting had Anne Stevenson appeared to speak in Part Two: Chapter I?
(a) A town hall meeting.
(b) The University Women's Club.
(c) The Girl Scouts.
(d) The 4H Club.

2. 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.

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

4. A. Alvarez claimed that Sylvia Plath did not intend __________.
(a) To be famous.
(b) To get divorced.
(c) To write a best seller.
(d) To kill herself.

5. In her youth, Sylvia was known for her American neatness and what color hair?
(a) Auburn.
(b) Black.
(c) Blonde.
(d) Brunette.

Short Answer Questions

1. What poet and playwright had previously lived at the residence where Sylvia Plath committed suicide?

2. Who edited The Journals of Sylvia Plath?

3. Dealing with Olwyn for three years, Malcolm saw none of the expected ________ in her character?

4. In her biography of Sylvia Plath, Stevenson writes of Plath as a sober and confused perfectionist whose suicide as well as the inspiration for her art remain ___________.

5. In the second version of The Journals of Sylvia Plath, Hughes indicated that he might be able to get his hands on what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Janet Malcolm know Anne Stevenson in their youth? What was Malcolm's opinion of her?

2. What lecture did Malcolm read of Anne Stevenson's defense of her biography in Part Two: Chapter I?

3. What did Anne Stevenson do with the manuscript she had been commissioned to write about Sylvia Plath for a series at Penguin Books?

4. Which biography of Sylvia Plath did Malcolm find to be the best? What criticism did the book meet?

5. Aurelia Plath's intentions in having her daughter's letters published is implied to be in retaliation for what?

6. How did Janet Malcolm compare her writing to Anne Stevenson's in college? What was Stevenson's career like?

7. When were Ted and Sylvia separated? What did Sylvia reveal to Alvarez during that time?

8. What portrait of Sylvia Plath did Anne Stevenson paint in her biography of Sylvia? Why did critics refute that image?

9. How old were Sylvia and Ted when Sylvia died? How did she die?

10. What power did Olwyn Hughes have over the Plath Library? What was Malcolm's impression of her after working with her on the book?

(see the answer keys)

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