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Mary Oliver - Quiz
Contributed by: Neal
  • 1. What is Mary Oliver's full birth name?
A) Mary Jane Oliver
B) Mary Josephine Oliver
C) Mary Jean Oliver
D) Mary Janet Oliver
  • 2. When was Mary Oliver born?
A) September 10, 1935
B) January 17, 1938
C) September 10, 1938
D) January 17, 1935
  • 3. When did Mary Oliver die?
A) September 10, 2015
B) September 10, 2019
C) January 17, 2019
D) January 17, 2015
  • 4. Which major literary prize did Mary Oliver win in 1984?
A) National Book Award
B) Pulitzer Prize
C) Christopher Award
D) Lannan Literary Award
  • 5. Which major literary prize did Mary Oliver win in 1992?
A) Pioneer Award
B) Pulitzer Prize
C) National Book Award
D) PEN New England Award
  • 6. Where was Mary Oliver born?
A) Bennington, Vermont
B) Provincetown, Massachusetts
C) Austerlitz, New York
D) Maple Heights, Ohio
  • 7. What was the profession of Mary Oliver's father?
A) Social studies teacher and athletics coach
B) Botanist and nature writer
C) Musician and orchestra conductor
D) Editor and publisher
  • 8. At what age did Mary Oliver begin writing poetry?
A) 14
B) 17
C) 15
D) 12
  • 9. In what year did Oliver attend the National Music Camp at Interlochen?
A) 1951
B) 1950
C) 1963
D) 1955
  • 10. What section of the National High School Orchestra was Oliver in at Interlochen?
A) Brass section
B) Percussion section
C) Woodwind section
D) String section
  • 11. Whose home did Oliver visit at age 17 in Austerlitz, New York?
A) Emily Dickinson
B) Henry David Thoreau
C) Walt Whitman
D) Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • 12. Who was Norma in relation to Edna St. Vincent Millay?
A) Daughter
B) Cousin
C) Sister
D) Mother
  • 13. Which universities did Oliver attend in the mid-1950s without receiving a degree?
A) Harvard University and Yale University
B) Bucknell University and Sweet Briar College
C) Ohio State University and Vassar College
D) Bennington College and Tufts University
  • 14. What was the name of Edna St. Vincent Millay's estate where Oliver worked?
A) Green Pastures
B) Provincetown House
C) Maple Heights
D) Steepletop
  • 15. What was the title of Oliver's first collection of poems, published in 1963?
A) American Primitive
B) House of Light
C) No Voyage, and Other Poems
D) New and Selected Poems
  • 16. How old was Oliver when her first collection of poems was published?
A) 28
B) 30
C) 25
D) 35
  • 17. Which university did Oliver teach at during the early 1980s?
A) Case Western Reserve University
B) Bucknell University
C) Bennington College
D) Sweet Briar College
  • 18. Which poetry collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984?
A) Thirst
B) American Primitive
C) Winter Hours
D) House of Light
  • 19. What position did Oliver hold at Bucknell University in 1986?
A) Writer in Residence
B) Editor of Essays
C) Poet In Residence
D) Chair for Distinguished Teaching
  • 20. What position did Oliver hold at Sweet Briar College in 1991?
A) Catharine Osgood Foster Chair
B) Margaret Banister Writer in Residence
C) Director of Creative Writing
D) Poet In Residence
  • 21. Until what year did Oliver hold the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair at Bennington College?
A) 2001
B) 1995
C) 2004
D) 2009
  • 22. Which awards did Oliver win for her 1990 collection House of Light?
A) Lannan Literary Award and Pioneer Award
B) Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award
C) Green Prize and Pulitzer Prize
D) Christopher Award and L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award
  • 23. Which collection won the National Book Award in 1992?
A) New and Selected Poems
B) House of Light
C) American Primitive
D) Winter Hours
  • 24. In the poem 'When Death Comes', what does Oliver say she was married to all her life?
A) Nature
B) The ocean
C) Silence
D) Amazement
  • 25. In what year was the collection Why I Wake Early published?
A) 1990
B) 1999
C) 2004
D) 2006
  • 26. Which edition of Best American Essays did Oliver edit?
A) 1996
B) 1998
C) 2009
D) 2001
  • 27. Which organization gave Oliver the Pioneer Award for Sustainable Literature?
A) New York Times Literary Board
B) PEN New England
C) Lannan Foundation
D) Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize
  • 28. From which institution did Oliver receive an honorary doctorate in 2012?
A) The Art Institute of Boston
B) Marquette University
C) Tufts University
D) Dartmouth College
  • 29. From which institution did Oliver receive an honorary doctorate in 2008?
A) Dartmouth College
B) Ohio State University
C) Marquette University
D) Tufts University
  • 30. From which institution did Oliver receive an honorary doctorate in 2007?
A) Dartmouth College
B) Bucknell University
C) Tufts University
D) Vassar College
  • 31. From which institution did Oliver receive an honorary doctorate in 1998?
A) Case Western Reserve University
B) The Art Institute of Boston
C) Marquette University
D) Sweet Briar College
  • 32. Which publication called Oliver 'far and away, this country's best-selling poet' in 2007?
A) America magazine
B) The New York Times
C) The Christian Science Monitor
D) The New Yorker
  • 33. What is the principal setting for Oliver's work after she moved there in the 1960s?
A) Maple Heights
B) Austerlitz
C) Provincetown
D) Bennington
  • 34. Which two writers strongly influenced Oliver's work?
A) Keats and Shelley
B) Whitman and Thoreau
C) Emerson and Dickinson
D) Rumi and Hafez
  • 35. According to the 1983 Chronology of American Literature, American Primitive presents a new kind of what?
A) Romanticism
B) Realism
C) Transcendentalism
D) Modernism
  • 36. In her book Long Life, what does Oliver compare herself to on the map of the world?
A) A wandering star
B) A blue comma
C) A quiet shadow
D) A green dot
  • 37. What object did Oliver hide in the trees after finding herself in the woods without one?
A) Notebooks
B) Index cards
C) Pens
D) Pencils
  • 38. What size was the hand-sewn notebook Oliver often carried?
A) 3-by-5-inch
B) 2-by-3-inch
C) 4-by-6-inch
D) 5-by-8-inch
  • 39. Who compared Oliver to 'a patroller of wetlands in the same way that Thoreau was an inspector of snowstorms'?
A) Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
B) Maxine Kumin
C) Lisa Ampleman
D) Ruth Franklin
  • 40. Which historical poets did Oliver list as her favorites alongside Whitman, Rumi, and Hafez?
A) Dickinson, Poe, and Frost
B) Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Byron
C) Emerson, Shelley, and Keats
D) Milton, Blake, and Donne
  • 41. With which classic American poet has Oliver been compared due to a shared affinity for solitude and inner monologues?
A) Walt Whitman
B) Edgar Allan Poe
C) Emily Dickinson
D) Henry David Thoreau
  • 42. How does the Harvard Review describe Oliver's work in relation to social and professional lives?
A) As an exploration of industrial isolation
B) As a celebration of modern urban complexity
C) As an antidote to inattention and baroque conventions
D) As a critique of traditional pastoral poetry
  • 43. According to Lisa Ampleman in America magazine, how did Oliver's writing change as she grew older?
A) It abandoned nature themes entirely
B) It focused increasingly on urban landscapes
C) It became more politically radical
D) It became more and more spiritual
  • 44. What is the title of Oliver's collection of selected poems mentioned by Lisa Ampleman?
A) House of Light
B) Thirst
C) Winter Hours
D) Devotions
  • 45. Who noted that many poems in Oliver's collection would not feel out of place in an unconventional religious service?
A) Ruth Franklin
B) Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
C) Debra Dean Murphy
D) Maxine Kumin
  • 46. Who wrote a review of Oliver's 2006 collection Thirst in Fordham University's publication?
A) Debra Dean Murphy
B) Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
C) Lisa Ampleman
D) Ruth Franklin
  • 47. According to Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, Oliver's collection Thirst shows a movement toward a frank acknowledgment of what faith?
A) Quaker
B) Buddhist
C) Jewish
D) Christian
  • 48. Which poem by Oliver explores engagement with Scripture?
A) The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church
B) After Her Death
C) The Poet Thinks About the Donkey and Gethsemane
D) When Death Comes
  • 49. Which two poems by Oliver explore imaginative engagement with Christ's life and words?
A) American Primitive and House of Light
B) When Death Comes and Leaf and the Cloud
C) Six Recognitions of the Lord and The Poet Thinks About the Donkey and Gethsemane
D) After Her Death and Coming to God: First Days
  • 50. According to Debra Dean Murphy, what has Oliver's work always been about pointing readers toward?
A) The critique of American capitalism
B) The gift of presence
C) The rejection of religious tradition
D) The pursuit of political reform
  • 51. In what decade did Mary Oliver meet Molly Malone Cook?
A) Early 1940s
B) Early 1950s
C) Late 1950s
D) Late 1960s
  • 52. What was Molly Malone Cook's profession?
A) Poet
B) Photographer
C) Publisher
D) Painter
  • 53. What role did Molly Malone Cook serve for Mary Oliver aside from being her partner?
A) Literary agent
B) Editor
C) Biographer
D) Publicist
  • 54. In what year did Molly Malone Cook pass away?
A) 2012
B) 2005
C) 2009
D) 2019
  • 55. Where did Mary Oliver move to live after leaving Provincetown?
A) Massachusetts
B) New York
C) Florida
D) California
  • 56. What tree does Mary Oliver specifically state she adores in 'Six Recognitions of the Lord'?
A) White willow
B) Silver birch
C) Red maple
D) Black oak
  • 57. Who directed the documentary Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World?
A) Maxine Kumin
B) Benjamin Myers
C) Sasha Waters
D) Alicia Ostriker
  • 58. What rating did the documentary Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World receive on Rotten Tomatoes?
A) 100% positive rating
B) 97% positive rating
C) 85% positive rating
D) 92% positive rating
  • 59. In what year was Mary Oliver diagnosed with lung cancer?
A) 2012
B) 2019
C) 2005
D) 2015
  • 60. What disease ultimately caused Mary Oliver's death?
A) Lymphoma
B) Pneumonia
C) Heart failure
D) Lung cancer
  • 61. How old was Mary Oliver when she died?
A) 86
B) 79
C) 83
D) 91
  • 62. Which critic numbered Oliver among America's finest poets and compared her to Emerson in a review for The Nation?
A) Sue Russell
B) Alicia Ostriker
C) Bruce Bennetin
D) William Logan
  • 63. Which collection of poetry did Alicia Ostriker review for The Nation?
A) Dream Work
B) Six Recognitions of the Lord
C) American Primitive
D) Thirst
  • 64. Who wrote that American Primitive 'insists on the primacy of the physical'?
A) Bruce Bennetin
B) Maxine Kumin
C) Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
D) Vicki Graham
  • 65. Who wrote that American Primitive 'touches a vitality in the familiar that invests it with a fresh intensity'?
A) William Logan
B) Holly Prado
C) Diane S. Bond
D) Sue Russell
  • 66. In regard to which poetry volume did Angela Alaimo O'Donnell discuss potential misperceptions of pantheism?
A) Thirst
B) American Primitive
C) Our World
D) Dream Work
  • 67. In The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, to whom did Sue Russell compare Mary Oliver to show Oliver was not writing as a contemporary lesbian balladeer?
A) Holly Prado
B) Maxine Kumin
C) Alicia Ostriker
D) Marilyn Hacker
  • 68. In The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, to whom did Sue Russell compare Mary Oliver to show Oliver was not writing as a political thinker?
A) Adrienne Rich
B) Sasha Waters
C) Diane S. Bond
D) Marilyn Hacker
  • 69. What book did Mary Oliver compile after Molly Malone Cook's death containing Cook's photos and journal excerpts?
A) Dream Work
B) Thirst
C) Our World
D) American Primitive
  • 70. Which foundation awarded Mary Oliver a Fellowship in 1980?
A) PEN New England
B) Lannan Foundation
C) Harvard University
D) Guggenheim Foundation
  • 71. In what year did Mary Oliver win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry?
A) 1969
B) 1998
C) 1984
D) 1992
  • 72. In what year did Mary Oliver receive the Lannan Literary Award for poetry?
A) 1991
B) 2003
C) 1984
D) 1998
  • 73. What honorary membership did Mary Oliver receive from Harvard University in 2003?
A) PEN New England
B) Pulitzer Board
C) Poetry Society of America
D) Phi Beta Kappa
  • 74. In what year did Mary Oliver receive an Honorary Doctorate from Tufts University?
A) 1998
B) 2008
C) 2007
D) 2012
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