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

2. In 1952, William Stanley Merwin's first book of poetry was published under what title?
(a) A Coat for Jamal.
(b) Glasses for Peter.
(c) A Hat for Harrold.
(d) A Mask for Janus.

3. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath were separated by the fall of what year?
(a) 1964.
(b) 1960.
(c) 1962.
(d) 1959.

4. In what year had a literary critic declared that what stood out about Plath's works was that Plath's "not nice" quality was what set her apart from her contemporaries?
(a) 1963.
(b) 1955.
(c) 1971.
(d) 1968.

5. Sylvia had told her mother about the dismal kitchens and ____________ in England.
(a) Bedrooms.
(b) Bathrooms.
(c) Roofing.
(d) Flooring.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose memoir depicting Sylvia Plath did Olwyn Hughes criticize relentlessly?

2. Who witnessed Sylvia weeping over Ted's infidelity, claiming that she had given her whole heart to Ted and couldn't get it back?

3. Who wrote the biography Bitter Fame?

4. Where was A. Alvarez born?

5. When was Janet Malcolm born?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did critic Ronald Hayman write about Bitter Fame?

2. What two friends of Sylvia perpetuated the negative image of Ted Hughes? How?

3. What correspondence did Malcolm have with Olwyn Hughes in Part One: Chapter IV? What was illustrated through the letters?

4. What does Malcolm write of the power and struggle of the biographer in Part One: Chapter I?

5. Ted Hughes wrote two introductions to The Journals of Sylvia Plath. What did he write in the first introduction, and when was this edition published?

6. Where did Olwyn and Malcolm go together in Part One: Chapter VII? What did Malcolm learn there?

7. What friend of Sylvia Plath's commented negatively about her life and death in Part One: Chapter II?

8. What was Sylvia Plath's response to her mother's criticism of her dark works?

9. What did Olwyn Hughes offer Anne Stevenson if she would write a biography about Sylvia?

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

(see the answer keys)

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