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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did Dillard forget about a boiling teakettle and burn it?
(a) A cabin on Puget Sound.
(b) An office in a college.
(c) Her kitchen.
(d) A faculty lounge in a university.

2. What does Dillard say that she thinks happens to something, such as a writing idea, that you do not give up freely and abundantly?
(a) It becomes better with age.
(b) It will be poorly written.
(c) Someone else will get it.
(d) It becomes lost to you.

3. Referring to a new idea, who said, 'Cheep--and all at once there it is'?
(a) Wilder.
(b) Boehme.
(c) Stevens.
(d) Einstein.

4. What is the topic of an essay written by Dillard that she said she considers too obscure and too intellectual?
(a) Lions.
(b) Popcorn.
(c) A moth.
(d) A mustang.

5. What kept the teakettle that Dillard used in a faculty lounge from whistling?
(a) It was an electric kettle.
(b) It was not a whistling teakettle.
(c) An aluminum lid jammed over its mouth.
(d) The mouth of the kettle was always kept open.

6. Why does it make more sense to write one big book rather than a collection of stories or essays, in Dillard's opinion?
(a) You can fit all you possess into a long project.
(b) There is more money to be made with a book.
(c) A cast of characters is easier to work with.
(d) It does not take as long to write one big book.

7. Thornton Wilder cited an unnamed writer of sonnets as saying only one line drops from where?
(a) A whisper in the ear.
(b) A hammer.
(c) The ceiling.
(d) A chicken.

8. Who did Dillard's neighbor, Glenn, tell her about when she returned to the island in late June?
(a) Ferrar Fenton.
(b) Bill Ferrar.
(c) Ferrar Burn.
(d) Nicholas Ferrar.

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

10. How does Dillard say that she defines the life of the writer in Chapter 3?
(a) As sensory.
(b) As ludicrous.
(c) As literary.
(d) As colorless.

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

12. What did Dillard do when she was upstairs in a house and she felt a tremor under her feet in Chapter 4?
(a) She went downstairs in case the stairway collapsed.
(b) She collected her writing to keep it from being damaged.
(c) Nothing; she was used to earthquakes.
(d) She called the emergency phone number.

13. Why did Dillard write that 'People should not feed moralistic animals'?
(a) Her dog trotted around the room, head up in the air.
(b) Her cat stretched out and turned its back to her.
(c) Her dog looked at her and rolled its eyes.
(d) Her cat pushed its empty food bowl around.

14. What did Dillard once describe a moth on a ship as doing?
(a) Taking flight like a hummingbird.
(b) Losing altitude and drowning.
(c) Being stepped on by someone.
(d) Taking off before she could draw it.

15. What does Dillard say she believes poets and novelists like?
(a) Writers from the nineteenth century.
(b) Poems and novels.
(c) The thought of themselves as writers.
(d) Books about writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who or what will teach someone to write, according to Dillard in Chapter 3?

2. Dillard repeated the phrase, 'It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay' over and over like a song in Chapter 5. What poem is this line from?

3. How does society regard the writer, in Dillard's experience?

4. What does Dillard say that she believes may well be a writer's only firsthand experience?

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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