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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. How does the young poet describe the writer and personal acquaintance Rilke mentions?

2. In what year does Rilke write the third letter?

3. What does Rilke say is bad about physical pleasure?

4. How does Professor Horacek know Rilke?

5. What does Rilke tell the young poet to rejoice in?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Rilke advises the young poet to be cautious about the way sex can change behavior. In what way does he suggest that sex changes people?

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

4. 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..."?

5. What does Rilke imply about irony?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compile, analyze, and explain a unified artistic theory according to Rilke.

Essay Topic 2

How is Rilke's advice to the young poet applicable for 21st century writers? How is his advice not applicable for 21st century writers?

Essay Topic 3

What are Rilke's views on gender roles? How does Rilke view gender and its construction?

(see the answer keys)

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