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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. Which of the following fruits does the narrator of “Toward the Amaranth Gates of War or Love” include among “all the things we want to taste” (75)?

2. To which of the following does the narrator compare a shark’s jaws?

3. Which of the following is the first line of “My Brother at 3 A.M.”?

4. Which of the following is the first line of “Monday Aubade”?

5. Before the gates of which of the following does the narrator offer to prostrate herself?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator of “When the Beloved Asks, ‘What Would You Do if You Woke Up and I Was a Shark?’” note answering the question of the title?

2. How is the room onto which “the door of your hip” opens in “Monday Aubade” described (83)?

3. What questions does the narrator ask in “Toward the Amaranth Gates of War or Love” (75)?

4. What is the concluding couplet of “Lorca’s Red Dresses”?

5. What does the narrator note possibly wanting to see fall near the end of “Black Magic Brother”?

6. What music does the narrator claim to hear when her beloved eats an apple?

7. How does the narrator of “I Lean Out the Window and She Nods Off in Bed, the Needle Gently Rocking on the Bedside Table” note having been created?

8. What reasons does the narrator give for taking her brother to dinner?

9. Into what sections is “Formication” divided?

10. What hellish vision does the narrator’s mother see in “My Brother at 3 A.M.”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator’s brother cites Lionel Richie as having influenced his bad behavior. What effect does the specific citation have on the reader? How might it be different with another artist? Why might it be so?

Essay Topic 2

Near the beginning of “Other Small Thundering,” the narrator makes mention of “Charon’s narrow skiffs” (31). What purpose does the Classical reference serve? How is that purpose enacted?

Essay Topic 3

Notably, the narrator’s mother is accorded more dialogue than the narrator’s father. What meaning can be taken from the relative presentation, and how does that meaning emerge?

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