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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. What is described as "the heart's constant backdrop" (27) in "Song"?

2. How is the sun described as it shines off the mountains in "Matins" (#7)?

3. What time of year is everything possible according to the speaker in "Heaven and Earth"?

4. What does the speaker in "Vespers" (#3) wonder if God loves more than her?

5. Who is the speaker of "Midsummer"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the gardener in "Matins" (#5) doing while she pretends to weed?

2. In "Vespers" (#3), why does the poet think she is "uniquely/ suited to praise [God]" (38)?

3. Why does God say he is not pleased with His creations in "End of Summer"?

4. In "Daisies," what do the daisies tell the poet will happen is she tries to share her "impressions of the natural world" (39) with others?

5. What does the poet express regret for thinking in "Matins" (#7)?

6. What does the poet say is a way of God revealing Himself in "Vespers" (#5)?

7. What does the flower ask the human at the start of "Field Flowers"?

8. What does the poet in "Heaven and Earth" question in regards to her husband at the end of the poem?

9. What does the poet say were some of the signs God existed in her youth in "Vespers" (#6)?

10. How does God see humanity in "Midsummer"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choosing several of the poems written from the voice of God to the poet/ gardener/humanity write an essay analyzing God's changing tone toward the poet or humanity. Analyze the poems for tone and imagery, comparing and contrasting these aspects of the poem in a minimum of 4 poems.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing how depression is portrayed in Wild Iris. Choose a minimum of 3 poems which show that the poet is depressed. What words, phrases or images are used to show this? Are they effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Choose a minimum of 4 poems written from the perspective of a plant or flower and write an essay comparing and contrasting the plant or flowers tone toward the poet/ gardener or humanity as a whole. Note the imagery used to convey tone.

(see the answer keys)

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