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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. Which poem did Dillard often read aloud?
2. What damage did the Smith-Corona typewriter do in Chapter 4?
3. What does Dillard say that she believes may well be a writer's only firsthand experience?
4. Dillard repeated the phrase, 'It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay' over and over like a song in Chapter 5. What poem is this line from?
5. Why was Dillard's finger in pain at times as she wrote in the university office in Virginia?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why does Dillard advise writers not to hoard a good idea for a later place in a book being written or for another book?
2. What does Dillard mean in Chapter 5 when she writes, '...instead we watch television and miss the show'?
3. Why does Dillard say that she needed more materials than a pencil and paper in order to write something like a second draft for a thirty-page chapter?
4. In Chapter 4, Dillard's typewriter erupted. What was the damage done?
5. What was unfortunate about Dillard learning how to split wood correctly?
6. How does Dillard say that she learned the correct way to split wood on the chopping block?
7. How does Dillard compare a writer to a Seminole alligator wrestler?
8. Why was a moth trying to gain altitude and ultimately drowning, in Chapter 3?
9. What does Dillard mean in Chapter 5 by 'Probe and search each object in a piece of art'?
10. What did Dillard learn from the local ferryman?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Dillard expresses the torturous, both in mind and body, experiences she has throughout the book. Her goal is to impart some wisdom and insight to the reader, especially those who want to write.
What wisdom has reading this book imparted to you? How will this wisdom be used?
Essay Topic 2
How is the sensation of writing an unmerited grace, a new idea likened to a chicken laying an egg, as Einstein is to have said? If the gift of writing is handed to you if you look for it, how does Dillard believe you find it?
Essay Topic 3
Which of the metaphors in Chapter 1 likens Dillard to an explorer searching out new realms without really understanding the meaning of it all as yet? Does this metaphor work? Why or why not?
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This section contains 1,024 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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