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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. Near the close of the fourth letter, Rilke mentions the positive aspects of the young poet's new profession. What are those positive aspects?
2. What does the young poet request in his third letter to Rilke?
3. In the third letter, Rilke requests that the young poet avoid something. What is it that he asks the poet to avoid?
4. What does Rilke view as a challenge of the young poet's new profession?
5. Why isn't Rilke able to fill the request the young poet poses in his third letter to Rilke?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Rilke mean when, in the first letter, he suggests that critical commentary on art results in "happy misunderstandings"?
2. What do letters two and three suggest about the young poet's interest in Rilke's advice?
3. 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?
4. What can the reader infer about the content of the first letter the young poet wrote to Rilke from reading Rilke's response?
5. What type of writing does Rilke advocate for?
6. What does Rilke say about the reading and re-reading of works by Jens Peter Jacobsen?
7. What does Rilke mean when he tells the young poet in the first letter that the poet's work has "no individual style"?
8. What can we infer from the fact that in the first letter, Rilke's closing salutation is with "with sympathy?"
9. Rilke places emphasis on the importance of solitude. Why is solitude so important?
10. 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..."?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In what ways does Rilke present artistic and personal development as inextricable? Why are they inextricable? Are there any contradictions in this interconnectedness?
Essay Topic 2
What is Rilke's view of the ideal sexual relationship? The ideal romantic relationship? The ideal parent-child relationship?
Essay Topic 3
What would the artistic and academic worlds be like without aesthetic criticism, as it seems Rilke would have it? Is Rilke able to reject the idea of aesthetic criticism only because he is an artist himself?
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This section contains 842 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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