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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. What is the third word in the poem titled with the words "Where?" and "Which?" in its title as well?

2. What religious allusion does the poem "To Artina" include?

3. What types of figures are NOT included as allusions within the poem entitled "Final Call"?

4. What type of funeral lies at the center of the poem entitled "Dead in There"?

5. To whom is the poem "Late Last Night" addressed?

Short Essay Questions

1. To whom is the poem entitled "Late Last Night" addressed?

2. In what way is the theme of isolation depicted within the poem entitled "Kid in the Park"?

3. In what way could the poem "To Artina" be said to display a feminist message?

4. What possibilities does Hughes imagine in relation to a "dream deferred" (108) in perhaps his most famous poem, entitled "Harlem [2]"?

5. What is the most prominent literary device used within the poem entitled "To Be Somebody"?

6. What is the setting of the poem entitled "Projection"?

7. In what way is repetition utilized within the poem entitled "Song for Billie Holiday"?

8. What is the main message of the poem entitled "Without Benefit of Declaration"?

9. What state is being described within the poem that contains as its first three lines the words, "Oh, what sorrow!/Oh, what pity!/Oh, what pain" (115)?

10. Characterize the two speakers within the poem entitled "Question and Answer."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What messages does the collection Vintage Hughes send about altruism and what themes does Hughes employ in order to send these messages to the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Look carefully at the passages and poems within the collection that demonstrate the damaging nature of the exoticism of black people within America. What is the author's purpose for discussing at length the nature of the connection between racism and the exoticism of African-Americans within society?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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