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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. Saint-Pol-Roux used to hang what sign on his door while he slept?

2. What did Dillard find herself doing in the rare book room nearly every day for about two weeks?

3. Which author would only write poetry when he was '...rather out of health'?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Dillard believe a writer often wants to refrain from throwing away the beginnings of the work she has created?

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

3. What is the most appealing schedule that Dillard says she knows?

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

5. Dillard describes the scenes from her desk at the library in Virginia. Why does she say these scenes are detrimental to her 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. What, outside Dillard's library window, proved to cause the most distraction to her work?

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

9. When the cab driver in New York sang songs with Dillard, why did he sing one dull song twice?

10. 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?

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

How is the sensation of writing an unmerited grace, a new idea likened to a chicken laying an egg, as Einstein is to have said? If the gift of writing is handed to you if you look for it, how does Dillard believe you find it?

Essay Topic 3

What was Dillard, as a reader, looking for and hoping to find when reading? What emotions and insights did Dillard hope to find? What does Dillard believe many people do that inspires her to write "..instead we watch television and miss the show"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,096 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample