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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Sonnet LXI, what does Neruda describe as having a "tail of pain" and a "train of static thorns?"
(a) Death.
(b) Love.
(c) His critics.
(d) Sleep.

2. What image does Neruda NOT use to describe the sleeping lovers in Sonnet LXXXIV?
(a) A drop in a river.
(b) A dark space.
(c) Marble statues.
(d) A chalice.

3. In Sonnet LXXXIX, why does Neruda want Matilde to live on after he has died?
(a) So his poetry will seem more real.
(b) So his memory will live on.
(c) So he can see the world through her eyes.
(d) So the world can understand what he loved so much.

4. In Sonnet LI, Neruda describes Matilde as what landmark?
(a) A mountain.
(b) A tree.
(c) A volcano.
(d) A river.

5. In Sonnet LXXXIII, what does Neruda say he wants to be over his eyes when he dies?
(a) Matilde's hands.
(b) The darkness of sleep.
(c) Matilde's hair.
(d) The warmth of peace.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Sonnet LXXI, Neruda says that love is like what kind of city?

2. In Sonnet LXX, what wounds Neruda?

3. In Sonnet XCIV, what does Neruda ask Matilde to do if he dies before her?

4. In Sonnet LXIV, love tints Neruda's life what color?

5. In Sonnet LIII, what does Neruda NOT cite as "a man's needs, and a woman's?"

Short Essay Questions

1. What defeats envy and rancor in Sonnet LVI?

2. Why does Neruda feel sorry for the "poor unlucky poets" in Sonnet LIX?

3. Why does Neruda urge Matilde to sleep in Sonnet LXXXIX?

4. In Sonnet XCI, what overshadows the life that he gives to Matilde "like a swelling cluster of fruit?"

5. What does Neruda ask of the "four-sided constellation" in Sonnet LXXXVI?

6. What emotion is symbolized by the "calm slow flower, constantly held out" in Sonnet LXXXVII? What does Neruda see that makes him contemplate that emotion?

7. What does the figurehead in Sonnet LxVIII appear to do that prompts Neruda to write about her?

8. In Sonnet LXXXIX, what does Neruda want Matilde to do when he dies? Why does he want her to do this?

9. In Sonnet LX, what effect do Neruda's trials and sorrows have on Matilde?

10. What does Neruda write are the effects of modern society's infatuation with flying in Sonnet XCVII?

(see the answer keys)

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