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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. Who is the author of "Bittersweet"?

2. What can the author remember clearly of the children of his first grade class in "First Grade"?

3. Who is the author of "The Family Car"?

4. In "Naming," the author has lost the meaning of words, but she still knows the meaning of sugar and what?

5. In "Aqueducts," the author imagines the aqueducts where?

Short Essay Questions

1. What similes and metaphors are prevalent in "Custody"?

2. How are the mother's suicide attempts described in "Lens"?

3. How did the author lose words in "Naming"? What does she recall?

4. How are the people described in the poem "and sometimes i hear this song in my head"?

5. What does the author consider about her grief in "On the Suicide of a Young Boy I Did Not Know"?

6. What does the author write about her choice to collect these poems in the Introduction?

7. What did the author's mother give her in "The Ants Are Using Sticks For Walls"?

8. What question is the author asked in "First Grade"? What is the meaning?

9. How does the author describe his parents in "Leaving the Lights On"?

10. What is described in "Dedication"? What simile is used to describe old papers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the settings and characters in the poems "Insurance" and "She had thought." In what narrative voice is each poem written?

Essay Topic 2

How is the sense of loss described in Chris Mahon's "This Isn't Fair"? What characters are in the poem and how are they described?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the theme of sorrow in "Sudden" and "Seeing for You." How do these poems relate in terms of symbolism and imagery?

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