Realism Authors Test Study Guide
If you know the answers to the following questions, then you should be pretty successful on the test.
You may want to re-read any piece that you don’t remember very well. The work we did along with
the pieces are also a good sources to study.
You will also need to know the following terms as they will be used on the test:
Tone
Satire (satirizes)
Irony
Characterization (“is characterized by”)
Infer
Conclude
Motivation (“is motivated by”)
Imagery
Connotative language (“connotes”)
“War is Kind” by Stephen Crane
Know the tone of the poem and how he conveys that tone
“The Lowest Animal” by Mark Twain
What is Twain’s theory of humanity?
How does he give his theory credibility?
According to Twain, why are Earls cruel?
What other examples does Twain give of humanity’s cruelty?
In what ways are human beings inferior to animals?
What is Twain’s point in his last example?
Why, according to Twain, is “Man the Animal that blushes”?
What, ultimately, is Twain’s purpose of criticizing humanity?
What is the tone of the poem?
“A Pair of Silk Stockings”
At first, what does Mrs. Sommers think she should spend her money on?
How is Mrs. Sommers characterized in the beginning of the story?
What can be inferred about Mrs. Sommers’s past?
How do the silk stockings affect Mrs. Sommers?
What other things does she spend her money on?
How do her new clothes make Mrs. Sommers feel?
How does Mrs. Sommers feel at the matinee?
What motivates Mrs. Sommers?
“Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson
Describe Richard Cory
Who is the narrator of the poem?
What predominant imagery is present in the poem?
What is Richard Cory’s fate and what is the reaction to it?
What kind of connotative language is used in the poem?
“Miniver Cheevy” by Edward Arlington Robinson
What does Miniver Cheevy enjoy doing?
How would you characterize Miniver Cheevy?
How does Miniver Cheevy comfort himself?
What kind of connotative language is used in the poem?
What do Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy have in common?
Finally, you will be asked to read and annotate 2 poems. They are both accessible to students
(as in, they aren’t so hard that you couldn’t understand them). A good way to study the SKILL
and PROCESS of annotation is by reviewing the annotation work we did on the 3 poems we
studied in this unit.