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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 is the name of the young poet who is the recipient of the letters contained in this volume?
(a) Franz Xaver Kappus.
(b) Xaver Rilke.
(c) Franz Horacek.
(d) Franz Rilke.

2. What does Rilke view as a challenge of the young poet's new profession?
(a) Its rigorous hours.
(b) Its lack of free time.
(c) Its lack of creativity.
(d) Its adherence to convention.

3. During what decade does the correspondence contained in this volume take place?
(a) 1910s.
(b) 1900s.
(c) 1920s.
(d) 1890s.

4. What does the young poet write about in his third letter to Rilke that Rilke mentions in his letter back to the young poet?
(a) His first publication.
(b) His decision to become a sculptor.
(c) The works of William Shakespeare.
(d) The works of Jens Peter Jacobsen.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What acquaintance do Rilke and the young poet have in common?

2. To what does Rilke compare artistic experience?

3. What does Rilke say about Professor Horacek in his first letter?

4. What does Rilke suggest that all humans share in, both women and men?

5. In what year is the first letter from Rilke to the young poet written?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. What are Rilke's views on aesthetic criticism?

3. What does Rilke mean when, in the first letter, he suggests that critical commentary on art results in "happy misunderstandings"?

4. What do letters two and three suggest about the young poet's interest in Rilke's advice?

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

6. What does Rilke imply about the nature of good art when he tells the young poet that if poetry is inspired by the young poet's soul-searching, he does not need to ask anyone else if the poetry is good?

7. In letter four, Rilke says that "even the best err in words when they are meant to mean most delicate and almost inexpressible things." What does this mean?

8. Rilke places considerable emphasis on the necessary nature of art. What does he mean when he says that a poet is only a poet if he would die if he didn't write?

9. What can the reader infer about the content of the first letter the young poet wrote to Rilke from reading Rilke's response?

10. What does Rilke mean when in letter three he says his books "no longer belong to me"?

(see the answer keys)

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