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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 speaker of the poem "Final Curve" declares that "When you turn the corner and run into" (91) what, then you know you have run out of corners to turn?

2. The poem entitled "Africa" describes the continent as constituting what type of giant?

3. The poem entitled "Final Call" suggests that Robin Hood should be called upon to "clinch" (133) what type of campaign?

4. How many times does the speaker of "Final Call" invoke the word "Come!" (134) in the poem's final stanza?

5. The poem entitled "To Be Somebody" has a final stanza suggests that "There's always room" (92) in what location?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss one humanist message put forth within the poem entitled "Junior Addict."

2. In what way does the poem entitled Madam and the Census Man" display the theme of pride in identity?

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

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

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

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

7. 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)?

8. What does the speaker of the poem entitled "Junior Addict" suggest as the solution for the addiction problem in the subject?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within the collection and what is Hughes’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze Hughes's focus on the theme of brutality in the collection entitled Vintage Hughes. What message is Hughes sending about change and about one other theme of your choice?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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