View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What writer and personal acquaintance does Rilke discuss in letter three?
(a) Thomas Hardy.
(b) Richard Strauss.
(c) Richard Dehmel.
(d) Professor Horacek.

2. What does Rilke tell the young poet about irony?
(a) Irony should be sparingly used.
(b) Irony should only be used for humor.
(c) Irony should never be used.
(d) Irony should be liberally used.

3. Besides works by that writer, what other book does Rilke always have accessible to him?
(a) A volume of Shakespearian sonnets.
(b) The Bible.
(c) The Origin of Species.
(d) The Torah.

4. What writer does Rilke revere most?
(a) Alfred Lord Tennyson.
(b) Ovid.
(c) Jens Peter Jacobsen.
(d) Thomas Hardy.

5. Where is Rilke when he writes the second letter?
(a) Florence, Italy.
(b) Viareggio, near Pisa, Italy.
(c) Athens, Greece.
(d) Berlin, Germany.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Rilke say the young poet should do if he determines he should not be a poet?

2. In what season does Rilke write the second letter?

3. In the third letter, what does Rilke say he wishes he could do for the young poet but is unable to do?

4. Rilke writes that "most events are inexpressible," and says that one category of things is more inexpressible than all the rest. What is this category?

5. What novel does Rilke discuss in letter three?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 261 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample