View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Rilke advise the young poet to view sex?
(a) To see it as a temptation to be avoided.
(b) To distance sex from art.
(c) To rejoice in it but not lose oneself in it.
(d) To fear it.

2. In the second letter, who does Rilke cite as his artistic influences?
(a) Jens Peter Jacobsen and the writer of the Psalms.
(b) Jens Peter Jacobsen and Auguste Rodin.
(c) The writer of the Psalms and Shakespeare.
(d) Shakespeare and Beethoven.

3. What city has Rilke departed from to come to the place where he composes the fourth letter?
(a) Worpswede, near Bremen, Germany.
(b) Viareggio, near Pisa, Italy.
(c) Berlin, Germany.
(d) Paris, France.

4. In the fourth letter, what does Rilke say he wishes human beings are more reverent toward?
(a) Solitude.
(b) Independence.
(c) Their sexuality.
(d) Art.

5. During what decade does the correspondence contained in this volume take place?
(a) 1890s.
(b) 1900s.
(c) 1920s.
(d) 1910s.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the young poet describe the writer and personal acquaintance Rilke mentions?

2. Rilke says that there is only one thing that "can grasp and hold and be just toward" art. What is that thing?

3. Why has Rilke come to the place where he composes the fourth letter?

4. In the first letter, which of the young poet's pieces does Rilke say demonstrates the most talent?

5. Near the close of the fourth letter, Rilke mentions the positive aspects of the young poet's new profession. What are those positive aspects?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 293 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample