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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 is the name of the metrical foot that appears at the end of lines 1 and 3 in most of the stanzas?

2. What is different about the final stanza of "One Art"?

3. Which technique is used in the speaker's claim to have lost "some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent" (line 14)?

4. What is the most reasonable interpretation of the speaker's line 13 claim that they have "lost two cities"?

5. Lines 4 and 6, ending in the words "fluster" and "master," exhibit what type of rhyme?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the poem's dominant meter, and how is it regularly interrupted?

2. Describe the form of "One Art."

3. What difference is there in the way the two refrain lines are repeated throughout the poem?

4. On the surface level, what is the main message of "One Art"?

5. How does the speaker arrange the examples of things that can be lost?

6. What are the refrains employed in "One Art"?

7. How does the speaker's diction increase the emotional stakes as the poem progresses?

8. How does the change in stanza structure in the final stanza mimic the poem's changing meaning?

9. Which two verb moods are used in "One Art," and where are they employed?

10. To whom is the parenthetical comment "(Write it!)" addressed in line 19, and how does this comment impact the reader's understanding of the poem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do some more reading about Bishop's life, and then write an essay in which you demonstrate how understanding information from her biography clarifies some puzzling aspect of "One Art." You should clearly identify which element of the poem is puzzling--and why--before explaining how the author's biography might function as a key to unlock the mystery. Support your argument with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text, and cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that analyzes tone shifts in "One Art." Identify where these occur, examine how they are created, and explain their purpose in supporting meaning. Support your claims with quoted evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the rhyme scheme of "One Art." Support your argument with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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