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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 advise the young poet to seek in regard to his sexuality?
(a) A sexuality that is passionate and fierce.
(b) A sexuality that is moderate.
(c) A sexuality that is based on creativity.
(d) A sexuality that is the young poet's own, individualized sexuality.

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

3. In what season does Rilke write the second letter?
(a) Winter.
(b) Fall.
(c) Summer.
(d) Spring.

4. In the first letter, what does Rilke advise the poet to do to improve his writing?
(a) Examine his inner self to determine what writing means to him.
(b) Emulate the best classical poets.
(c) Take a poetry class with Rilke.
(d) Begin studying music.

5. Where is the young poet who is the recipient of the letters studying when he begins to receive correspondence from Rilke?
(a) A military academy in Germany.
(b) A military acdemy in Oslo.
(c) A military academy in Prague.
(d) A military academy in Paris.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the third letter, what does Rilke say he wishes he could do for the young poet but is unable to do?

2. What novel does Rilke discuss in letter three?

3. What does the young poet request in his third letter to Rilke?

4. Rilke says that there is only one thing that "can grasp and hold and be just toward" art. What is that thing?

5. In what year does Rilke write the fourth letter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What can be inferred about Rilke's health from letters two and three?

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

3. 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?

4. What reason does Rilke give for advising the young poet against writing love poems?

5. What does Rilke claim is more permanent than human life?

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

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

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

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

10. What does Rilke imply about irony?

(see the answer keys)

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