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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. In Dillard's thoughts, what words stopped Rebbe Shmelke from hearing his teacher?

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

3. According to Dillard, what kind of life is a life of sensation?

4. Who claimed to have written for twenty hours a day?

5. How does Dillard describe the process of writing a book?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Dillard say that she made a pen drawing of the scenes outside her library window?

2. When Dillard glanced in the daylight at one of the stacks of books she regularly touched to feel her way at night, what surprised her?

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

4. What analogy does Dillard use to explain how a book leads its writer on?

5. 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"?

6. How does Dillard say that she defines the meaning of schedules, in Chapter 2?

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

8. Dillard vows to remember her difficulties writing in Roanoke, Virginia. Why is this ironic?

9. Describe the inside of Dillard's study on Cape Cod.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is wood-splitting a metaphor for in Chapter 3? What did Dillard learn besides how to properly split wood?

Essay Topic 2

What advice did Dillard give to a reader asking if she would teach him to write? Describe the two different ways in which Dillard explains her advice.

Essay Topic 3

Why did a young photographer in Chapter 1 submit the same landscape every year for judgment to the same person, only to be rejected every year? What was the photographer's ultimate goal in his recurring submission? What does having worked long and hard on a particular project lead a creator to believe?

(see the answer keys)

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