View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the speaker in "Retreating Wind" say he feels for his audience in the first lines?

2. What does the woman in "The Garden" do as a sign of truce when the couple disagree about whether to stop or continue?

3. The poet in "Matins" (#3) asks God if He may be more inconsistent like what type of plant?

4. What does the lamium say "living things don't all require...in the same degree" (5)?

5. The poet in "Matins" (#1) disagrees with Noah, saying that she feels attached to what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the poet struggle with and search for in many of the poems in which she address God?

2. What does God tell humanity is the only thing they will hear in the final lines of "End of Summer"?

3. What does the speaker in "Matins" (#2) say in regards to the lesson God tried to teach humanity?

4. Why is God frustrated in "Clear Morning"?

5. In "Witchgrass," the witchgrass tells the gardener that it will remain for how long?

6. In "Witchgrass," why does the witchgrass feel humans needed to give them a name?

7. What does the speaker of "Matins" (#4) wonder if she is better of addressing instead of God?

8. What pain does the iris describe in "Wild Iris"?

9. Who is speaker in each of the "Matins" poems and who does the speaker address?

10. What does the witchgrass tell the gardener she must accept in regards to the flower it is accused of kllling in "Witchgrass"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing the theme of immortality in 3 - 5 poems from Wild Iris. Use textual evidence to support your analysis.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the theme of human suffering in Wild Iris. Choosing one poem from God's perspective, one from the poet's and one from nature, analyze the differing views on human suffering.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing the collection as a whole. What themes are evident and what techniques does the poet use to convey these themes? Use textual evidence to support your analysis.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 539 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample