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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 5 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What adjective is used to describe the chickens?
2. What similarity is shared by every second line of the poem?
3. How are the lines of the poem arranged?
4. According to line 7, where are the chickens located relative to the wheelbarrow?
5. In line 5, which word is used to describe the rainwater on the wheelbarrow?
Short Essay Questions
1. What are the images presented in this poem?
2. What is the surface meaning of this poem?
3. Describe the diction of this poem.
4. Describe the poem's form.
5. What is the most reasonable interpretation of this poem's setting, and why?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
The assonance and rhythm that contribute to the central framing of the image of the wet wheelbarrow in the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" fight against the structure of the sentence that comprises the poem and the ambiguity of the poem's opening line, because these elements direct the reader's attention to the idea that "so much depends" (line 1). What is the reason for directing the reader's attention simultaneously to two different spots in the poem? How does this tension both literally and figuratively highlight the idea of one thing depending on another? Write an essay in which you explore this tension. Be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Is there any real significance to the colors used in "The Red Wheelbarrow"? Consider the Objectivist nature of the poem. How does this philosophical stance make it unlikely that Williams consciously intended the colors to be symbolic? Can text have symbolic content even when an author does not intend it to? Write an essay that takes and defends a position on how Objectivism sheds light on both Williams's intended use of the colors red and white and their effect on the reader. Support your argument with evidence drawn from the poem, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence and outside sources in MLA format.
Essay Topic 3
William Carlos Williams once said that a poem is a "machine made of words." Do some research into what he meant by this and then explain how this philosophy is clear in his construction of "The Red Wheelbarrow." Explain Williams' meaning and then use the structure of this poem and the effect this structure has on the reader as evidence for the poem as a "machine made of words." Be sure that you cite any evidence drawn from outside sources in MLA format.
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This section contains 604 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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