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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "These Hands, If Not Gods," the entire poem explains why the speaker is like a god. What technique is this an example of?
(a) Juxtaposition.
(b) Conceit.
(c) Paradox.
(d) Symbolism.

2. What does the title "The Mustangs" refer to?
(a) Cars often seen on the reservation.
(b) The animals the speaker's parents raised.
(c) The speaker and the beloved.
(d) A basketball team.

3. In "Catching Copper," what kind of "comb" is meant in the page 9 lines, "you should see my brothers' bullet/ make a comb, by chewing holes/ in what is sweet"?
(a) A hair comb.
(b) A textile comb.
(c) A honeycomb.
(d) A rooster's comb.

4. In "Asterion's Lament," what kind of a creature is "Asterion"?
(a) Half-fish and half-human.
(b) Half-snake and half-human.
(c) Half-bird and half-human.
(d) Half-bull and half-human.

5. On page 9 of "Catching Copper," how do the brothers walk their bullet?
(a) "With a limp."
(b) "With a moan."
(c) "Like a date."
(d) "Like a bee."

6. In "Skin-Light," what is the most likely antecedent of "it" in the line "My whole life I have obeyed it" (21)?
(a) "Skin-Light."
(b) This "god-made place."
(c) "The opened-gold field."
(d) The "glide of the hand."

7. In the page 27 lines from "Asterion's Lament," "Let me be your tender captain, ferry/ the ultramarine thread you unraveled"" what literary technique is being employed?
(a) Double entente.
(b) Apologia.
(c) Alliteration.
(d) Epistrophe.

8. In "Like Church," the speaker uses the Spanish term of endearment "Mi caracol" (29). What is the literal translation of this expression?
(a) My rabbit.
(b) My cabbage.
(c) My peanut.
(d) My snail.

9. In "Ink-Light," to what does the speaker compare her desire?
(a) A train.
(b) A bomb.
(c) A carnivorous plant.
(d) A jaguar.

10. What does the opening of "Postcolonial Love Poem" claim that moonstones can do?
(a) Stop the bleeding of a snakebite.
(b) Make someone fall in love with you.
(c) Predict the weather.
(d) Help you find your way home.

11. In "Skin-Light," the speaker refers to "violet, biliruben/ bloom." What is she describing?
(a) Flowers.
(b) Stones.
(c) Bruises.
(d) Painting.

12. In "These Hands, If Not Gods," which religion's god is alluded to in the line "didn't you sing out their ninety-nine names?" (8)?
(a) Islam.
(b) Judaism.
(c) Christianity.
(d) Hinduism.

13. In the opening of "Skin-Light," to what creature does the speaker compare herself?
(a) A jaguar.
(b) A bull.
(c) A scorpion.
(d) A coyote.

14. In "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word," when the speaker claims to be the only Native person "on the 8th floor of this hotel or any," what technique is being used (14)?
(a) Allegory.
(b) Hyperbole.
(c) Sarcasm.
(d) Paradox.

15. What vehicle is mentioned in the opening of "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word"?
(a) Subway train.
(b) Ambulance.
(c) Airplane.
(d) Taxi.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "From the Desire Field," what other poet is alluded to?

2. In "The Mustangs," what AC/DC song is mentioned?

3. In "Asterion's Lament," to what is the beloved's body compared besides water?

4. What technique is used in the "American Arithmetic" lines, "I do not remember the days before America--/ I do not remember the days when we were all here" (17)?

5. In "Manhattan Is a Lenape Word," what is the literal meaning of the figurative lines, "an American drone finds then loves/ a body--the radiant nectar it seeks" (15)?

(see the answer keys)

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