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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How long ago has Rilke departed from the city he has left before arriving at the place where he composes the fourth letter?
(a) Two weeks.
(b) 10 days.
(c) A month.
(d) Two days.

2. From whom does Rilke advise the young poet to avoid seeking advice?
(a) Military officers.
(b) Parents.
(c) Poets.
(d) Artists.

3. How does the young poet describe the writer and personal acquaintance Rilke mentions?
(a) "Living and writing with true passion."
(b) "Living and writing among the living."
(c) "Living and writing in heat."
(d) "Living and writing with blood."

4. What is Rilke's primary criticism of the young poet's writing in the first letter?
(a) It has no individual style.
(b) It lacks creativity.
(c) It does not rhyme.
(d) It is shallow.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. To what does Rilke compare artistic experience?

3. 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?

4. What has brought Rilke to the place from where he writes the second letter?

5. Rilke indicates that in the future, men and women will approach each other differently than they do at the time of his writing. How will they approach each other?

(see the answer key)

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