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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the fifth letter, Rilke tells the young poet that a package the young poet has sent to him has not arrived. What is in the package?
(a) A book that presents works by the young poet.
(b) A collection of books by Rilke.
(c) The young poet's latest manuscript.
(d) A special German cheese.

2. To what does Rilke compare people who are preparing for God?
(a) Fools.
(b) Poems.
(c) Bees.
(d) Roses.

3. At the end of letter eight, what does Rilke remind the young poet of?
(a) How he once longed to emerge from his youth and realize himself.
(b) His parents' love.
(c) His fear of judgment.
(d) His first poems.

4. To what does Rilke compare humans' misunderstanding of destiny in letter eight?
(a) Humans' misunderstanding of love.
(b) Humans' misunderstanding of God.
(c) Humans' misunderstanding of human nature.
(d) Humans' previous misunderstanding of the motion of the sun.

5. What does Rilke claim a sadness indicates about a person's life or self?
(a) A realization.
(b) A loss.
(c) A fear.
(d) A transition.

6. How does Rilke note that the future change in the role of women affects love?
(a) It makes love more patient.
(b) It makes love more human.
(c) It makes love more feminine.
(d) It makes love more real.

7. According to Rilke in letter eight, where does destiny originate?
(a) From within individuals.
(b) With God.
(c) With thought.
(d) From external events.

8. What does Rilke assert about the nature of human existence that he claims is a fact whether we think so or not?
(a) We are made in God's image.
(b) We are solitary.
(c) We are creative beings.
(d) We are built to love.

9. What does Rilke say women have more of than men?
(a) Love.
(b) Humanity.
(c) Patience.
(d) Empathy.

10. What does Rilke say about fears in the world in letter eight?
(a) Fears must be ignored.
(b) We have created the fears.
(c) Gears must be acknowledged.
(d) Fears are natural.

11. At the close of letter seven, what love does Rilke tell the young poet to remember?
(a) The love of nature.
(b) The love of Rilke.
(c) The love of his first experience of solitude.
(d) The love of his parents.

12. What does Rilke say is wrong with men?
(a) Men oppress women.
(b) Men are too dominant.
(c) Men undervalue what they love.
(d) Men are too focused on the physical.

13. Why does Rilke delay so long in replying to the young poet's fifth letter?
(a) Rilke does not like to write letters when he is traveling.
(b) Rilke has been ill.
(c) The young poet's fifth letter has angered Rilke.
(d) Rilke leaves the young poet's letter in another city.

14. What does the sixth letter reveal about the state of the young poet?
(a) The young poet is sad and lonely.
(b) The young poet is suffering from writer's block.
(c) The young poet is relishing his solitude.
(d) The young poet is enjoying his new career.

15. What does Rilke say in the seventh letter about things that are difficult?
(a) Things that are difficult enhance our discipline.
(b) Things that are difficult are usually not the things that are best for us.
(c) Things that are difficult are worth doing or experiencing.
(d) Things that are difficult should be avoided.

Short Answer Questions

1. From where is Rilke's sixth letter written?

2. What does Rilke encourage the young poet to believe about God?

3. In whose handwriting does the poem Rilke enclosed with his seventh letter appear?

4. From where is Rilke writing the eighth letter?

5. Who writes the poem Rilke encloses with his seventh letter?

(see the answer keys)

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