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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. In the third letter, Rilke requests that the young poet avoid something. What is it that he asks the poet to avoid?
2. In what year is the first letter from Rilke to the young poet written?
3. What does Rilke say about everything that is serious?
4. What does the young poet write about in his third letter to Rilke that Rilke mentions in his letter back to the young poet?
5. What does Rilke send to the young poet in reply to the poet's first letter?
Short Essay Questions
1. 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?
2. What do letters two and three suggest about the young poet's interest in Rilke's advice?
3. What does Rilke claim is more permanent than human life?
4. What does Rilke mean when, in letter four, he says that the intellect "lags marveling behind" the consciousness?
5. What are Rilke's views on aesthetic criticism?
6. What can we infer from the fact that in the first letter, Rilke's closing salutation is with "with sympathy?"
7. What reason does Rilke give for advising the young poet against writing love poems?
8. At the end of letter four, Rilke mentions the young poet's new profession. What is this profession?
9. What can the reader infer about the content of the first letter the young poet wrote to Rilke from reading Rilke's response?
10. Rilke places emphasis on the importance of solitude. Why is solitude so important?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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 2
Throughout the letters, and especially in letter eight, Rilke suggests that people are not truly living their lives--that their experiences are dulled from familiarity and security. What type of living is Rilke advocating? What is this type of living like?
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 747 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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