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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. What did Morrison name as coinciding with a time of plenty? (Poem 4- "Drywater")

2. In the poem "Blessings", where did the ancient wisdom travel from to greet "us"?

3. Who, according to the second poem in the "Village Tapes" section, was hungry for steel?

4. What, according to the third poem in the section "Drywater", what wasted and swayed forever?

5. Where did Morrison say, in the first poem of the "Drywater" section, say that men assembled at to create armies and find foes to fight?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the poem from the section "Jamaica", what did Morrison describe was happening?

2. What did Morrison state that children and men feared? ("Jamaica")

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

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

5. What is happening in the poem "Cassandra at the Well"?

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

7. In the second poem from the "Drywater" section, what did Morrison say was happening in the schoolyard?

8. In the first poem from "The Village Tapes" section, what state is the world in?

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

10. What message did Morrison claim was being sent at the end of the fourth poem in the "Drywater" section?

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

Rarely did Morrison title his poetry. Discuss how this lack of standard titling either helped or hindered your understanding of the book. Did this lack of apparent labeling confuse you as a reader or solidify what was known about Morrison as a writer? How did the lack of titling affect your understanding?

(see the answer keys)

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