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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. In what point of view is "It Is a Spring Afternoon" written?
(a) It is unclear.
(b) Second-person.
(c) Third-person.
(d) First-person.

2. How is God portrayed in "For God While Sleeping"?
(a) As a newborn infant.
(b) As a senile old man.
(c) As a woman.
(d) As a loved one who has recently died.

3. "The Bells" ponders about the search for love and acceptance from whom?
(a) A father figure.
(b) A childhood friend.
(c) God.
(d) A mother figure.

4. The poem "You, Doctor Martin" puts the reader where?
(a) Into Bedlam.
(b) Into the author's surgical suite.
(c) In her empty home.
(d) In Taft Cemetery and Memorial Gardens.

5. Who does the speaker's daughter cry out for when she is in an accident in "Pain for a Daughter"?
(a) She does not cry out.
(b) God.
(c) Her mother (the speaker).
(d) Her father.

Short Answer Questions

1. "Torn Down From Glory Daily" draws a parallel between animal hunger and ______.

2. Where does the woman in "Moon Song, Woman Song" live?

3. Who is "For the Year of the Insane" directed to?

4. What is the speaker doing in "The Fortress"?

5. What does the speaker pledge in "The Fortress"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the title Live or Die?

2. How does Sexton's poetry put the reader in the middle of her life?

3. Explain how Sexton expresses love in All the Pretty Ones.

4. Explain how Sexton uses religion in All the Pretty Ones.

5. What is the significance of ending Part 1 of To Bedlam and Part Way Back with the poem "A Story For Rose On the Midnight Flight To Boston"?

6. What is the meaning of the title "The Fortress"?

7. What makes To Bedlam and Part Way Back autobiographical?

8. How does the collection Love Poems fit in with Sexton's other work?

9. What is the crossroads Sexton finds herself at in "The Fortress"?

10. Explain the poem "Eighteen Days Without You."

(see the answer keys)

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