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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 send to the young poet in reply to the poet's first letter?
(a) Money.
(b) A volume of Rilke's poetry.
(c) A letter and the poet's poems.
(d) A list of potential publishers.

2. In what year does Rilke write the fourth letter?
(a) 1908.
(b) 1903.
(c) 1905.
(d) 1912.

3. What acquaintance do Rilke and the young poet have in common?
(a) Professor Horacek.
(b) A distant cousin.
(c) Professor Kruppa.
(d) James Joyce.

4. Besides works by that writer, what other book does Rilke always have accessible to him?
(a) The Bible.
(b) The Origin of Species.
(c) The Torah.
(d) A volume of Shakespearian sonnets.

5. From where does Rilke write the fourth letter?
(a) Berlin, Germany.
(b) Viareggio, near Pisa, Italy.
(c) Worpswede, near Bremen, Germany.
(d) Paris, France.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Rilke say the young poet should do if he determines he should not be a poet?

2. What does Rilke view as a challenge of the young poet's new profession?

3. In the fourth letter, who does Rilke say is more similar than people think?

4. What does Rilke tell the young poet about irony?

5. In the first letter, what does Rilke cite as the most disruptive hindrance to the young poet's progress?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. What type of writing does Rilke advocate for?

3. What does Rilke mean when, in letter four, he says that man "might be more reverent toward his fruitfulness, which is but one, whether it seems mental or physical..."?

4. 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?

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

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

7. Rilke places emphasis on the importance of solitude. Why is solitude so important?

8. What does Rilke say about the reading and re-reading of works by Jens Peter Jacobsen?

9. 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?

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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