View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What, according to Morrison, would it take for songs and poetry to survive?

2. Who raced down the beach? (From the poem whose first line was "A vast radiant beach & a cool")

3. Why did Morrison say that poetry appealed to him?

4. Where did the savages fall out from in the poem "Ode to LA"?

5. In the poem that started "In that year", what did Morrison claim to be stroked with?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Ophelia in the poem "Ode to LA"?

2. What did Morrison state happened to the savages in the poem "Ode to LA"?

3. What did Morrison say about the elimination of "space fillers" in an interview?

4. In the poem "Ode to LA", what did Morrison state was going to happen to Jones' body?

5. How did Morrison describe the girl in "Orange County Suite"?

6. What happened at the beginning of the poem "Ode to LA"?

7. What did Morrison, in the poem "Ode to LA", say existed in "meat heaven"?

8. What did Morrison ask of the bird of prey? (In the poem that began "Bird of prey, Bird of prey")

9. Why did Morrison state that poetry meant so much to him?

10. According to Morrison, what does "real poetry" do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Morrison used many references to natural imagery. Discuss in detail three different natural images and their usage in the poem. What did the imagery represent? What message was Morrison trying to convey? How did the imagery represent what Morrison was saying? Did the imagery work? Why/Why not?

Essay Topic 2

Choose a section from "Wilderness" and discuss how the section comes together as a whole. What are the common themes that Morrison spoke about? How did Morrison use imagery to tie individual poems together? How did this help to bring the section together? Did the cohesion of the ideas/themes help to create a deeper understanding of what Morrison was trying to say? Why/Why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the use of metaphors in Morrison's poetry. Find at least three metaphors that Morrison used in his poetry and explain the comparison that he made. What was Morrison comparing? What did the comparison lead you to believe about Morrison's thoughts on the object he described? Why does the comparison work? How does the comparison create confusion? Why do you think Morrison used the specific comparison?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 765 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample