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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 does the speaker in "Cross" wish in regard to his mother?

2. What does the speaker in "Misery" wish to hear?

3. Where does the fortune teller tell Madam her fortune is in "Madam and the Fortune Teller"?

4. Where is Miss Michaelmas in "Southern Mammy Sings"?

5. What does the speaker in "Down and Out" want from her lover?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are three sub-themes that appear in "Note on Commercial Theater"?

2. What theme unites the poems in "Name in Uphill Letters"?

3. Which famous line of Langston Hughes is in "Harlem"?

4. What is the speaker talking about in "Note on Commercial Theater"?

5. What is the common tone of the pieces in "Life Is Fine"?

6. What is the commonality between all of the poems in "Lament Over Love"?

7. What is the reader left to assume about how Madam makes money in the poems about her?

8. How are men portrayed in the poems in "Lament Over Love"?

9. What observation does the speaker make about the people riding the subway in "Subway Rush Hour"?

10. What does the speaker in "High to Low" accuse the "low" African-Americans of doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In a well-written essay, discuss the symbolism, imagery, and diction Hughes uses in "March Moon."

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast 2 poems in the section "Lament Over Love," paying particular attention to their portrayal of men.

Essay Topic 3

In "Widow Woman," Hughes writes from the perspective of a woman. Discuss at least 3 rhetorical devices he uses to come up with a voice that is his own and yet not his own in this particular poem.

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