From “Underworld Lit”

XIV

Please print clearly and remember your name.


1) The river of fire, in ancient Greek thanatopography, feeds into the river of  _____________.


2) From the river of pain spring two rivers—the river of _____________ and the river of  _____________.


3) The river of  _____________  runs a separate course entirely, concealed inside the Greek word for truth.


4) At the sight of sinners approaching, the  _____________  seethes “like butter in a frying pan.”


5) _____________  is the Sanskrit river of ash.


6) As the sun god Ra floats down the river of the hidden chamber, his head is exchanged for that of a  _____________.


7) Those for whom much lamentation is made find the  _____________  swollen with tears and difficult to cross.


8) To our knowledge, the river of  _____________  has no name.


XXIII

Read each question and circle the least incorrect option. Remain quietly seated when you are done.


1) The entrance to the Mayan underworld is located in  _____________.

      A. An underwater cave system in Bolivia
      B. The dark rift in the Milky Way
      C. A locked vault in the back office of the United Fruit Company
      D. All of the above


2) The sun god Ra journeys toward the third hour of the night on a  _____________.

      A. Funeral boat
      B. Serpent boat
      C. One-eyed boat
      D. Boat towed by jackals


3) The hero’s companion in the Epic of Gilgamesh dies of  _____________.

      A. Vehicle rollover
      B. Friendly fire
      C. Superficial spreading malignant melanoma
      D. Irrelevant question


4) The first large-scale multiple choice assessment was administered by  _____________.

      A. The Hindu god of death
      B. Jacques Derrida
      C. The United States Army
      D. All of the below


XI

Please limit your responses to the space-time provided below. Your answers will be evaluated for honesty, cleanliness, devotion, humility, compassion, and spelling. No talking. Ten minutes.


1) Enumerate the principal mountain ranges of the late Bronze Age Cimmerian realm of the dead.




2) Identify He Who Consumes the Excrement from His Hindquarters.




3) Briefly trace the development of data storage systems from the underworld ledger to cloud computing.




4) What is the function of repetition in disciplining the dead?




5) What is the function of repetition in disciplining the dead?




XIX

Locate the underworld figures hidden below. You may search the four cardinal directions, diagonally, and in reverse. Please, no talking. Hurry.
 
 
Source: Poetry (May 2020)