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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To what does Dillard compare writing a book?
(a) Running a marathon.
(b) Climbing a long ladder.
(c) A reality television show.
(d) Learning to walk via crawling.

2. What is needed in the world more than another excellent manuscript, as far as Dillard is concerned?
(a) Pollen.
(b) Shoes.
(c) Bees.
(d) Honey.

3. According to Dillard, what kind of life is a life of sensation?
(a) A life spent reading.
(b) A life of spirit.
(c) A good life.
(d) A life of greed.

4. Oftentimes, what part of Dillard's work must be edited out?
(a) The best-written part.
(b) The opening paragraph.
(c) The dialogue.
(d) The typos and misspellings.

5. What did Wallace Stevens dictate to his secretary?
(a) Orders for lunch.
(b) Poetry.
(c) Editorial essays.
(d) Letters.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was knocking on the carrel window as Dillard worked in Roanoke?

2. What question does Dillard say a writer must ask when considering random scenes that come to mind?

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

4. How long does it generally take to write a book?

5. According to Dillard, how do painters work as opposed to writers?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Dillard believe that putting together a book is interesting and exhilarating?

2. When Dillard was working in the library at night, how did she find her way around in the dark?

3. What decision did Dillard make to finally shut herself off from all distractions at the library carrel?

4. How does Dillard describe the line of words as being one's own heart?

5. Why is 'the path' of the line of writing, as described in Chapter 1 by Dillard, not to be considered the actual work?

6. Why did a ritual slaughterer bid goodbye to his wife and children every morning as if it were his last, in Chapter 1?

7. In Chapter 1, what does Dillard say she thinks of as the usual reasons for an author getting stuck in a book?

8. How is the line of Dillard's words likened to a hammer in Chapter 1?

9. When Dillard heard a June bug bumping up against the carrel window one night, what did the noise bring her to realize?

10. What is the meaning of Thoreau's note that "The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance a palace or temple on the earth, and at length the middle-aged man concludes to build a wood-shed with them"?

(see the answer keys)

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