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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. What was a joy to the animal featured in The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that comes First?
(a) Victory.
(b) Speed.
(c) Wind.
(d) Knowledge.

2. What is the turtle in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, doing?
(a) Teaching her babies to swim.
(b) Dying.
(c) Burying her eggs.
(d) Swimming in the lake.

3. In Everything, what are we told to do in order to truly grasp the idea of poetry?
(a) The unimportant.
(b) The temporary.
(c) The singular.
(d) Everything.

4. What is Oliver trying to establish an intimacy with in Work Sometimes?
(a) The reader.
(b) Herself.
(c) A man.
(d) Her God.

5. In Everything, what are we told to look to for examination?
(a) Our God.
(b) Our goals.
(c) Our surroundings.
(d) Ourselves.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Oliver observe at the end of Work Sometimes?

2. What is the main subject of Everything?

3. What is the first plant talked about in Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones?

4. How was the poet traveling when she saw an animal in The Measure?

5. How does the editor describe the thought put into these poems?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about a seed grain?

2. What did the hawk do at the end of The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First?

3. What parts of grammar does Oliver say she wants to cherish in Everything, and why?

4. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver ask about the blue heron?

5. In The Measure, what does Oliver say happens to the lives that are watched over?

6. How did Oliver feel at the end of Work Sometimes?

7. In The Real Prayers are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First, what does Mary Oliver state the real method of praying should be?

8. What does Oliver say she wants to honor with her poem, Everything?

9. What is the main question Oliver asks in Work Sometimes?

10. In Mysteries, Four of the Simple Ones, what does Oliver say about the pond?

(see the answer keys)

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