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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 wrote "Simple Song of Being Oneself"?

2. In "Stranded," the beloved's name drips from the author's what?

3. Who wrote the poem titled "Sudden"?

4. Who wrote "What the Stones Knew"?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What similes are used to describe water in "Aqueducts"?

2. How is the author's encounter described in "I, Myself"?

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

4. How is the coat described in "My Father's Coat"?

5. What word did the newspaper use in "Sudden"? Why?

6. What is being searched for in "What We Want"? How are the people described?

7. Why did the author's mother throw out his underwear in "Emergency Situation"?

8. How does the father feel in "Taking My Son to His First Day of Kindergarten"? What irony is described?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of grief in "On the Suicide of a Young Boy I Did Not Know." How is grief different in this poem than in others in the collection?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the religious allusion and symbolism in "Shedding Skin" and "Invisibility." What do these poems have in common?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the editor of "What Have You Lost"? Where does the poet live? What other works has she published? What common themes are seen in her works?

(see the answer keys)

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