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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 does Geryon recall his dog doing in “Walls”?

2. Stesichoros' words were collected in how many books, according to the author in the introduction?

3. What does Geryon's mother tidy on him before he leaves in “Screendoor”?

4. Who calls Herakles' family's home in “She”?

5. Herakles comments in “Walls” that all of Geryon's creative expressions reference what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who do you think is referred to by the word "Him" in "Meanwhile He Came"? Why?

2. What sexual abuse is described in "Each"?

3. What is significant about the quote that opens “Autobiography of Red: A Romance”?

4. Why and how is Virginia Woolf alluded to in "She"?

5. What is a palinode? What palinode is described in Appendix A: “Testimonia on the Question of Stesichoros’ Blinding by Helen”?

6. What is described in the poem "Herakles' Killing Arrow"?

7. What is signficant about Geryon's perception of himself in "Right"?

8. How would you describe the language style in the introduction to the novel?

9. What supposedly caused Stesichoros' "un-blinding"?

10. What does the dog signify in "Wings" and the other early poems in the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the story of Stesichoros being blinded by Helen of Troy. What caused Helen to blind Stesichoros? How did Stesichoros reverse his fate? What arguments are made regarding this story in Autobiography of Red?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the narrative style of the main story in Autobiography of Red. From what point of view is the story related? Is the narrator omniscient or limited in perspective? How do each of these choices impact the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the encounter between Geryon and the centaur. What do you think is foreshadowed by this encounter? How is the centaur described? What do you think the centaur represents metaphorically in the novel?

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