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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. What did Sylvia Plath leave for her children when they awoke the night she killed herself?

3. The long and confused letter Janet Malcolm received from Olwyn in response in Part One: Chapter IV only reiterated her disdain for ____________.

4. What literary genre emphasizes the intimate, and sometimes unflattering, information about details of the poet's personal life, such as in poems about mental illness, sexuality, and despondence?

5. When did Sylvia Plath die?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. What was the first official bad review of Bitter Fame? Who wrote it?

7. How did Anne Stevenson find she related to Sylvia Plath in their youths?

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

9. What did Aurelia Plath have published regarding Sylvia after her death? Why?

10. What memoir did A. Alvarez write about Sylvia? What was Ted Hughes' response?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the relationship between Anne Stevenson and Ted and Olwyn Hughes. How did Anne come to work with Olwyn on the biography?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the suicide of Sylvia Plath and its impact on Ted Hughes. What led to Hughes' separation from Plath?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss The Savage God. When and where was this work first published? What was Ted Hughes' reaction to the piece and why?

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