Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. The body beloved of the speaker now lies, as said in the second stanza of Sister Maude, cold as what?
2. What is the first speaker in The Three Enemies doing to the second speaker in each stanza?
3. How do the grave flowers shed their leaves in Sweet Death?
4. Where do the eyes of the speaker's lover look in The Convent Threshold?
5. How many speakers are there in A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Many of the poems in this collection are in the traditional Italian sonnet form. This includes A Triad, Remember, After Death, The One Certainty, and The World. Using either a few, or all, of these sonnets, compose an analytical essay which demonstrates how the Italian sonnet form conveys its significance through exposition in the octave and explication or resolution in the sestet. How do the two parts interact with one another? What does the commentary or resolution in the sestet achieve? What opportunities of conveying significance does the form of the sonnet allow? What is the significance of some of the sonnets in the collection?
Essay Topic 2
Throughout a great deal of Rossetti's poetry, there is a connection drawn between life and love, between living and loving. This can be seen in At Home, A Triad, A Birthday, After Death, An End, and many others. Explicate in a thoroughly-developed analytical essay the significance of this connection. In what way are the two states or actions comparable? Why would one be linked with the other? What makes the two similar? How is this demonstrated in the various poems of Christina Rossetti? What does this connection reveal about human nature?
Essay Topic 3
Compose an analytical essay on the theme revealed in the last poem of the collection, The World, namely that of struggling with the World's two-faced transformation, its false beauty and true ugliness. How is this theme portrayed throughout Rossetti's poems? In which poems does the World appear seductively beautiful? In which poems is its hideousness revealed? What does this help the reader to see about the World in which he lives? What do the poems overall seem to suggest as a contrary way of living? What other beauties can and should a person pursue? How should one react to both faces of the World?
|
This section contains 411 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
