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. When Anne Stevenson wrote her biography of Sylvia Plath, she found that she and Sylvia had gone through the same teen-aged angst and sexual frustrations of the American youth of what era?

2. Whose biography of Sylvia Plath did Olwyn Hughes laud?

3. What biography mentioned a cloth beneath Sylvia's head as she inhaled the gas fumes and a testimonial statement by her doctor that she had been in a dire mental condition?

4. A. Alvarez was initially much more impressed with Ted--thinking of Sylvia as __________.

5. After she and Ted separated, Sylvia chose to stay in England because __________ was more accepted there.

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Aurelia Plath have published regarding Sylvia after her death? Why?

2. What two friends of Sylvia perpetuated the negative image of Ted Hughes? How?

3. What happened between Linda Wagner-Martin and Ted and Olwyn Hughes?

4. What power did Olwyn Hughes have over the Plath Library? What was Malcolm's impression of her after working with her on the book?

5. What does Malcolm write of the power and struggle of the biographer in Part One: Chapter I?

6. What was the first official bad review of Bitter Fame? Who wrote it?

7. What did Anne Stevenson do with the manuscript she had been commissioned to write about Sylvia Plath for a series at Penguin Books?

8. Ted Hughes wrote two introductions to The Journals of Sylvia Plath. What did he write in the first introduction, and when was this edition published?

9. How did Janet Malcolm compare her writing to Anne Stevenson's in college? What was Stevenson's career like?

10. What correspondence did Malcolm have with Olwyn Hughes in Part One: Chapter IV? What was illustrated through the letters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the correlations between Anne Stevenson's life and that of Sylvia Plath. What similarities did these female writers share? What differences?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and analyze The Bell Jar and its depiction of Sylvia's relationship with her mother. What about the work did Aurelia find "ungrateful"?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the biography The Haunting of Sylvia Plath. When was it published and by whom?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 990 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample