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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the poem enclosed in the seventh letter express a longing for?
(a) Trust.
(b) Faith.
(c) Love.
(d) Creative talent.

2. In what season is Rilke writing the seventh letter?
(a) Spring.
(b) Fall.
(c) Winter.
(d) Summer.

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

4. What aspect of human life does Rilke say is most burdened with conventions?
(a) Marriage.
(b) Love.
(c) Inspiration.
(d) Religion.

5. How does Rilke say the young poet's career compares to other careers?
(a) Rilke says that the young poet's career has more conventions than other careers.
(b) Rilke says that the young poet's career is better than other careers because it allows more solitude.
(c) Rilke says the young poet's career is more distinguished than other careers.
(d) Rilke says that the young poet's career is essentially the same as all other careers.

6. What does Rilke claim a sadness that enters into the body is in actuality?
(a) Inspiration.
(b) An unknown.
(c) A realization.
(d) A fear.

7. In whose handwriting does the poem Rilke enclosed with his seventh letter appear?
(a) Professor Horacek's.
(b) Rilke's wife's.
(c) Kappus'.
(d) Rilke's.

8. From where is Rilke's sixth letter written?
(a) Rome, Italy.
(b) Florence, Italy.
(c) Paris, France.
(d) Bremen, Germany.

9. What is the primary topic of the eighth letter?
(a) Creativity.
(b) Nature.
(c) Sadness.
(d) Solitude.

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

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

12. What type of poem does Rilke enclose with the seventh letter?
(a) An ode.
(b) An epic.
(c) An elegy.
(d) A sonnet.

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

14. Rilke says that eventually women no longer are the opposite of men, but something else. What are they?
(a) Feminine beings whole in themselves.
(b) The superiors of men.
(c) The inferiors of men.
(d) The teachers of men.

15. What does Rilke say is "the most difficult of all our tasks"?
(a) To uncover the true self.
(b) To know God.
(c) To truly embrace solitude.
(d) To love another person.

Short Answer Questions

1. Rilke compares a person to a house and a sadness to what?

2. To what does Rilke compare the realization about the true nature of human existence in letter eight?

3. What does Rilke say is wrong with men?

4. Why does Rilke delay so long in replying to the young poet's fifth letter?

5. What does Rilke say about "the dragons of our lives"?

(see the answer keys)

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