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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who said a long poem takes between five and ten years to write?
(a) John Berryman.
(b) Maya Angelou.
(c) Walt Whitman.
(d) Emily Dickinson.

2. What does Dillard's "line of words" do with random pictures in the writer's mind?
(a) Dreams of them.
(b) Dissects them out.
(c) Writes them down, word for word.
(d) Dismisses them.

3. In the life of a Danish aristocrat mentioned in Chapter 2, what did he do for most of the day?
(a) Napped.
(b) Hunted.
(c) Swam.
(d) Ate.

4. When Dillard once wrote in a cinder-block cell, what scene did it overlook?
(a) Mountains.
(b) A tar-and-gravel roof.
(c) Cape Cod bay.
(d) A strip mall.

5. Who is the Danish aristocrat mentioned in Chapter 2?
(a) Sverre Magnus.
(b) Wallace Stevens.
(c) Osip Mandelstam.
(d) Wilhelm Dinesen.

Short Answer Questions

1. Jack London maintained that every writer needs a technique, experience, and what else?

2. When Dillard relays a story about a cabdriver singing a boring song, why did the driver sing it twice?

3. What happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut one morning in April, 1987?

4. When Dillard is watching symbols move on her monitor, which sends back numbers to her, what is it her job to do?

5. How many hours of sleep would Jack London usually get?

(see the answer key)

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