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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 many years of hell did Ted Hughes go through after Sylvia's death, according to Anne Stevenson in Part Two: Chapter IV?
(a) Seven.
(b) Ten.
(c) Two.
(d) Five.

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

3. In Part Two: Chapters VIII, Elizabeth Sigmund mentioned that Ted and Carol no longer speak to whom?
(a) Clarissa Roche.
(b) Olwyn Hughes.
(c) A. Alvarez.
(d) Aurelia Plath.

4. What caused Trevor Thomas to sleep until 5 p.m. the day after Sylvia Plath killed herself?
(a) Escaped gas.
(b) Hangover.
(c) Depression.
(d) Sleeping pills.

5. In what year did Anne Stevenson write to Olwyn about never contacting her again?
(a) 1986.
(b) 1983.
(c) 1985.
(d) 1988.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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 __________."

2. What American poet was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950?

3. What book did A. Alvarez write on the subject of divorce?

4. Sylvia wrote in her journals that she was certain she had the ability to commit suicide, murder a woman, and ____________.

5. How did Assia Wevill die?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Sylvia Plath demonstrate her "not nice" side in her journals?

2. When and why did Anne Stevenson and Olwyn Hughes put their differences behind them?

3. What did Malcolm write of the unread letter in Part Three: Chapter III?

4. Who was Richard Sassoon? How did Sylvia know him?

5. When and why did Ted Hughes and A. Alvarez put their differences behind them?

6. Describe the letters that Malcolm read between Anne Stevenson and Olwyn Hughes. What was the relationship between the women like?

7. What did Ted Hughes write to Anne Stevenson regarding Bitter Fame?

8. Who was Trevor Thomas? What did Malcolm learn from him?

9. How did the editor of The Journals of Sylvia Plath defend herself to criticism?

10. What public dispute did Alvarez and Ted Hughes have via letters?

(see the answer keys)

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