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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. Why did Morrison claim the night described in the tenth poem ("Village Tapes") was the "greatest night of my life"?

2. Who was the "deaf witness on the bank" compared to? (Poem 4-"Drywater")

3. How did Morrison describe the "couplings out in the night", in the fourth poem from the section titled "Jamaica"?

4. What, in the poem beginning "The Endless quest a vigil", state would be missed?

5. What was Morrison describing when he wrote "is a silver sluice bait"? (Poem 1- "Drywater")

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Morrison describe the vultures in the poem from the section "Jamaica"?

2. What did the poem that began "Silver shaken in the gloom" speak about?

3. In the second poem of the "Village Tapes" section, Morrison claimed that pilots are a problem. Why?

4. In the first poem of the section titled "Drywater", how did Morrison describe the night?

5. Why did Morrison claim that "I deserve this" at the end of the final poem from the "Drywater" section?

6. What did Morrison say needed to be done about the situation that the pilots were in? (Poem 2-"Village Tapes")

7. Why did Morrison have the principal of the school holding his nose? ("Jamaica")

8. What did Morrison say America did to him? ("Jamaica")

9. What did Morrison claim that he had to leave? ("Jamaica")

10. In the fourth poem of the "Drywater" section, what did Morrison claim he was not?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Morrison was very influenced by Nietzsche. Nietzsche's main philosophy was based upon living in reality and the advancement of an individual's culture. Although Morrison was enamored and influenced by Nietzsche, he did not live in reality given his extensive drug and alcohol use. Therefore, how did Morrison try to align his life (poetry) with the philosophy of Nietzsche? What poems spoke to living in reality? Which poems spoke to advancing one's culture? Did Morrison's drug/alcohol use create a reality for him? Use textual evidence from the poems to support findings.

Essay Topic 2

Many times throughout the poems/reflections, Morrison used religious imagery. Discuss the religious imagery that Morrison used. What image did he use? How did it speak to the theme/mood of the poem? Why did the image work, or did it create confusion? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

In the final section of the book "As I Look Back", Morrison claimed that he was stunned by the forgetting of his past. Discuss the relation of Morrison's poetry in sections prior to the last section. How does it seem confusing that Morrison claimed to forget his past, but have a vivid enough memory to write the image-filled poetry that packed all of the previous sections? What could have Morrison been speaking about? Explain using combination of textual evidence and personal understanding.

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