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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. The poem "Lover's Return" is written from the point of view of what type of person?

2. The poem entitled "Love" describes the emotion of love as what kind of a wonder?

3. How old were the two boys to whom the poem "The Bitter River" is dedicated?

4. What are the final two words of the lengthy poem entitled "Freedom's Plow"?

5. The poem entitled "Cross" focuses on the experience of what type of person?

Short Essay Questions

1. What action does the speaker of the poem entitled "October 16:The Raid" want the reader to take regarding John Brown?

2. In what way are the themes of brutality and oppression intertwined within the poem "Ku Klux"?

3. In what way does the speaker of the poem "Daybreak in Alabama" want to commemorate the beauty of the titular subject?

4. In the poem entitled "Widow Woman," how is the technique of hyperbole utilized?

5. With what countries does the speaker of the poem "Good Morning Revolution" ally himself?

6. In what way is the water motif depicted differently within the poem "The Bitter River" than in many other works within the Vintage Hughes collection?

7. What types of sensory details are featured within the poem entitled "Graduation," and for what purpose are these details included?

8. To what element does Hughes compare the object of a drum in the poem entitled "Drum"?

9. The poem entitled "I, Too" is a response to a poem by what famous American author?

10. Which two marginalized groups are focused upon within the poem "America"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by Hughes in order to create vivid pictures and feelings for the reader. Choose three moments in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author within the collection Vintage Hughes serve Hughes’s purpose.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss three different poems that utilize the first person point-of-view. What elements of these poems’ themes and messages lend themselves to the choice of a first-person speaker, and what are Hughes’s intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Could a particular poem or story within the collection entitled Vintage Hughes be classified as a coming-of-age story? Why or why not?

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