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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Rilke enclose with his third letter to the young poet?
(a) Copies of some of his poems.
(b) A note to Professor Horacek.
(c) A list of his most recent books.
(d) Names of publishers to whom the young poet can send his work.

2. In the third letter, Rilke requests that the young poet avoid something. What is it that he asks the poet to avoid?
(a) Drinking.
(b) Reading aesthetic criticism.
(c) Reading contemporary literature.
(d) Studying science.

3. In the first letter, in what manner does Rilke suggest the young poet can tend to his personal growth?
(a) Aggressively.
(b) Publicly.
(c) Patiently.
(d) Quietly and seriously.

4. What novel does Rilke discuss in letter three?
(a) Niels Lyhne.
(b) Pifer.
(c) Jude the Obscure.
(d) Across the World.

5. From where is the first letter from Rilke to the young poet postmarked?
(a) Berlin.
(b) Prague.
(c) Paris.
(d) Munich.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Rilke advise the young poet to take comfort in if he feels uneasy in his new profession?

2. Where is Rilke when he writes the second letter?

3. What does Rilke ask the young poet to do for him at the end of the first letter?

4. In the first letter, which of the young poet's pieces does Rilke say demonstrates the most talent?

5. In what year is Rilke's second letter composed?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rilke mean when, in letter four, he says that the intellect "lags marveling behind" the consciousness?

2. In letter four, Rilke says that "everything that may some day be possible to many the solitary man can now prepare and build with his hands, that err less." What does this mean?

3. What type of writing does Rilke advocate for?

4. What does Rilke mean when he tells the young poet in the first letter that the poet's work has "no individual style"?

5. What does Rilke mean when, in letter four, he says that physical pleasure is not bad, but that physical pleasure is often "misuse[d] and squander[ed]"?

6. What can we infer from the fact that in the first letter, Rilke's closing salutation is with "with sympathy?"

7. At the end of letter four, Rilke mentions the young poet's new profession. What is this profession?

8. How does Rilke advise the young poet to approach works of art?

9. Rilke tells the young poet in the first letter that the only way for the poet to improve his writing is to "go into yourself". What does this mean?

10. What does Rilke mean when he says in letter three that sex "is not sufficiently human, [but] is only male"?

(see the answer keys)

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