View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," the speaker mentions an "alcazar." What is an alcazar?

2. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what war is alluded to?

3. In "Snake-Light," what is the rhetorical purpose of mentioning the butterflies?

4. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," what British monarch is mentioned?

5. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what other Indian author is mentioned?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Snake-Light," what comparison does the speaker make between snakes and writing?

2. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what is the rhetorical function of the lines: "I wanna rock, I-I wanna rock, I-I wanna rock/ right now" (37)?

3. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what is the speaker's recurring dream?

4. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what story does the rock painting tell, and what is its significance to the speaker?

5. Explain the metaphor "Transubstantiation bone--hips of bread,/ wine-whet thighs" in "Ode to the Beloved's Hips" (37).

6. In "Waist and Sway," what temptation is the speaker trying to resist, and what is the outcome?

7. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what does the guidebook say?

8. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what metaphorical comparison is developed in the lines, "How many hours bowed against this Infinity of Blessed/ Trinity?" (37)?

9. In the opening of "Snake-Light," what does the speaker literally see in the desert, and to what does she compare it?

10. In what two senses can the title "My Brother, My Wound" be interpreted?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that examines Diaz's use of structure and formatting. Choose one or more poems and create a thesis that makes a claim about her use of structure and formatting in your chosen poem(s). How does she use space on the page and linebreak to group ideas, control pace, and create emphasis? Be sure to support your ideas with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that explores the complexity with which relationships are portrayed in Postcolonial Love Poem. Comment on both family and romantic relationships in your analysis, and provide support from at least five of the collection's poems.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that traces the development of the "hips" motif in Postcolonial Love Poem. Show how different poems develop differing aspects of this motif and make a claim about its overall meaning within the collection.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 898 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample