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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 phrase is repeated three times in the poem entitled "In Time of Silver Rain"?

2. To what personality does the speaker of the poem "Heart of Harlem" NOT allude within the poem?

3. The poem entitled "Share-Croppers" contains how many stanzas?

4. What is NOT a theme depicted in the poem entitled "Freedom's Plow"?

5. To whom does the speaker of the poem "The Negro Mother" speak?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which two marginalized groups are focused upon within the poem "America"?

2. In what way is the theme of peace depicted in the poem called "Death of an Old Seaman"?

3. In what way is the theme of isolation depicted within the poem entitled "Little Old Letter"?

4. What is the main literary device Hughes uses within the poem entitled "Joy"?

5. What is the Existential viewpoint of the poem entitled "I Dream a World"?

6. In what way is repetition used within the poem entitled "Brass Spittoons"?

7. The poem entitled "I, Too" is a response to a poem by what famous American author?

8. In what way is the water motif included within the very first poem in the collection?

9. To what element does Hughes compare the object of a drum in the poem entitled "Drum"?

10. How is the theme of family bonds depicted within the poem entitled "Mother to Son"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by Hughes in order to create vivid pictures and feelings for the reader. Choose three moments in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author within the collection Vintage Hughes serve Hughes’s purpose.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how and why Hughes instills three different humanist messages into the collection entitled Vintage Hughes.

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within the collection entitled Vintage Hughes. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the collection.

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