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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 “Political Poem,” the speaker wonders what would happen if what happened?

2. In “Theatrical Improvisation,” what does the audience begin to sense?

3. In "4 ½," like what animal pulling at its tether and scraping its horns against a rock, does the little girl emphasize what exactly she wants?

4. In "Beatific," how do the drivers of the cars feel?

5. In “The United States Welcomes You,” the speaker asks why the person is afraid and what else?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are two things to which history is compared in "New Road Station"?

2. What are two of the questions asked in "The United States Welcomes You"?

3. What does the man in "Theatrical Improvisation" say about "these" people?

4. To what does the speaker in “Dusk” compare life with her teenage daughter?

5. What is said about the house in “Ash”?

6. What does the speaker observe in “Beatific”?

7. What does the speaker find in "Eternity: Songzhuang Art Village"?

8. What does "New Road Station" say about the speed of history?

9. What does the man in "Theatrical Improvisation" say happens when he sleeps outside a station?

10. How does the speaker in "Watershed" feel, as he has the sense of being pulled up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There is a connection between “Beatific” and “Charity.” First, what is the topic of these two poems? Second, how are they similar? Why might the topics of these two poems be important to the poet? As the reader, how are you affected by these poems? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Many of Smith's poems contain descriptive language. Choose one of her poems that is a good example of this. What is the purpose of this language? How does this language affect the reader? How different would the poem be without this type of language? Why?

Essay Topic 3

In “Eternity, Lama Temple,” what is the significance of each of the speaker’s observations? How do these observations affect the speaker? Why? What is the relationship between these observations and the title of the poem?

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