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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose ideas about sex does Rilke advise the young poet to avoid subscribing to?

2. How does Rilke suggest one knows if one should not be a poet?

3. What does the young poet write about in his third letter to Rilke that Rilke mentions in his letter back to the young poet?

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

5. Who does Rilke tell the young poet to be considerate of because of their fear of solitude?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Rilke mean when, in the fourth letter, he tells the young poet to "live" his unanswered questions?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the advice Rilke presents to the young poet and the way Rilke takes his own advice based on research into Rilke's life.

Essay Topic 2

In the first letter, Rilke tells the young poet that "a work of art is good if it has sprung from necessity." From this statement, discuss what Rilke's philosophy of art is, and comment on that philosophy.

Essay Topic 3

Explain Rilke's focus on solitude and why he thinks it is important for artistic and personal development. What does solitude mean to Rilke? Why is solitude Rilke's primary message to the young poet?

(see the answer keys)

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