View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The "diaphonous girl" appears to be a part of __________.
(a) Rilke's best friend who died.
(b) Rilke.
(c) Rilke's father.
(d) Rilke's lover.

2. According to Rilke, Orpheus continues to live on in ___________.
(a) Food.
(b) Music.
(c) Paintings.
(d) Women.

3. What topic does the first elegy introduce?
(a) Love.
(b) Shakespeare.
(c) Demons.
(d) Angels.

4. In the case of those poems with no titles, what is used as a reference?
(a) The subject.
(b) The narrator's name.
(c) The last line.
(d) The first line.

5. Which of the following is most unique to Rilke?
(a) Voice.
(b) Allusion.
(c) Format.
(d) Diction.

6. Which of the following is a line from the poem "To Holderlin"?
(a) We are allowed to be together for but a minute
(b) We must endure trial and tribulation.
(c) We are not permitted to linger.
(d) We are not permitted to be intimate.

7. What does the poet become frustrated by in "Sonnets to Orpheus"?
(a) The limits of being a human.
(b) His conscience.
(c) HIs lack of love.
(d) His inability to be an animal.

8. In the poem about faces, what do vast numbers of things appear to be?
(a) Light.
(b) Heavy.
(c) Shallow.
(d) Infinite.

9. The poems in Book 1, Chapter 7 are listed as being written during ____________.
(a) 1900 and 1908.
(b) 1910 and 1922.
(c) 1912 and 1922.
(d) 1911 and 1915.

10. What is "For the Sake of a Single Poem" about?
(a) Animals.
(b) Wisdom.
(c) Women.
(d) Poetry.

11. According to Rilke's poem, how did the prodigal son grow up?
(a) Unappreciatively.
(b) Fearful.
(c) Well-loved.
(d) Mistreated.

12. According to Rilke, what does Orpheus invigorate?
(a) Feeling.
(b) Writing.
(c) Singing.
(d) Thinking.

13. Book 1, Chapter 7 is dedicated to _________.
(a) An ancient Greek God.
(b) A woman named Maria.
(c) A man Rilke didn't know very well.
(d) The elegy.

14. How many elegies are contained in Chapter 7?
(a) 10.
(b) 14.
(c) 4.
(d) 8.

15. Which of the following best describes the "diaphonous girl"?
(a) A symbol of speech.
(b) A symbol of sight.
(c) A symbol of listening.
(d) A symbol of knowledge.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the second stanza of the first elegy in Book 1, Chapter 7, "A ____ rolled toward you."

2. In the third poem in "Sonnet to Orpheus," who are the three basic characters?

3. In Rilke's poem, who did the prodigal son feel bound by?

4. In poems I-8 and I-25, which themes are united?

5. When Orpheus is called in one of the sonnets, who gathers to listen in silence?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 413 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample