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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who wrote, 'He goes because he must, as Galahad went towards the Grail; knowing that for those who can live it, this alone is life'?
(a) Albert Einstein.
(b) Wallace Stevens.
(c) Henry Thoreau.
(d) Evelyn Underhill.

2. In Dillard's experience, what always wins over the vision being forgotten?
(a) The page.
(b) The set of mental relationships.
(c) The work's intellectual structure.
(d) An imaginary object.

3. According to Glenn's story, what was Ferrar after in the water?
(a) His wife, June.
(b) A yellow and blue rowboat.
(c) A large fish.
(d) An Alaskan cedar log.

4. How do Tibetan lamas keep from floating away, as described in Chapter 5?
(a) They wear chains.
(b) The meditate towards the destination.
(c) They swim with the current.
(d) They walk very slowly.

5. What, according to Dillard, is the first thing a writer does that is similar to what a painter does?
(a) Ignores the first faint marks on the canvas or page.
(b) Shapes the vision of the work.
(c) Shapes a vision of the world.
(d) Brings the vision of the work to light.

6. Who did Dillard get a visit from in Chapter 3 that was eye-awakening for her?
(a) Two local neighborhood boys.
(b) A writers' group.
(c) The mail carrier.
(d) A volunteer EMS worker.

7. Whose poetry did Dillard usually read aloud when on a break?
(a) Ralph Waldo Emerson's.
(b) Conrad Aiken's.
(c) Frederick Buechner's.
(d) Walt Whitman's.

8. How does society regard the writer, in Dillard's experience?
(a) With indifference.
(b) WIth adulation.
(c) With fear.
(d) With curiosity.

9. What was Dillard's only physical activity in the one-room log cabin on an empty beach?
(a) Jogging to her husband's cabin in the evening.
(b) Walking a few feet from the bed to the desk.
(c) Walking along the beach at low tide.
(d) Practicing yoga on the beach.

10. How did a well-known writer respond to a student in Chapter 5 who asked if he could be a writer?
(a) What do you know about the world?
(b) Have you taken my course?
(c) Do you have imagination?
(d) Do you like sentences?

11. What did Emily Dickinson love best in her writing?
(a) A slant of light.
(b) The glistening peritoneum.
(c) The ferns.
(d) Yo-yo tricks.

12. What was the result of Dillard's first attempts at splitting wood in Chapter 3?
(a) Tiny wedges got chopped off.
(b) She split fine logs.
(c) She cut herself with the axe.
(d) She missed the wood every time.

13. Where, in Washington State, did Dillard beg a cabin in which to write?
(a) On Herron Island.
(b) On Haro Strait.
(c) On Snake River.
(d) Boundary Pass.

14. What made the teakettle in the faculty lounge look so interesting in Chapter 3?
(a) It was in the shape of a cow.
(b) It had a clothespin jutting from its mouth.
(c) It had a picture of an Aztec on it.
(d) It was only large enough for 8 ounces of liquid.

15. What did Dillard realize when she spoke to the local sheriff in Chapter 3?
(a) She loved running a ferryboat.
(b) She was like one who worked in a factory all day.
(c) She was a good, sane person.
(d) She loved writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Dillard feel that an author must visit her work every day?

2. Who once said about writing, 'Know your own bone'?

3. In working-class France, what did Dillard say that experienced workers tell an apprentice who gets hurt or tired?

4. What did Dillard study in Chapter 5?

5. How long does the twilight linger on the island on Haro Strait in June and July?

(see the answer keys)

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