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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Prologue and Letters on Love.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the excerpt of Rilke's letter in the Introduction, what essay does he refer to reading?
(a) Cicero's Symposium.
(b) Plato's Symposium.
(c) Platos' Cave.
(d) Homer's Odyssey.

2. In the Prologue, who does the commentator say is the other of the two greatest writers of the twentieth century?
(a) Ernest Hemingway.
(b) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(c) James Joyce.
(d) Samuel Beckett.

3. What does Rilke accuse of vilifying sensuality and love?
(a) The government.
(b) Mankind.
(c) Christianity.
(d) Womankind.

4. What does Rilke write that he holds to be "the highest task of a bond between two people"?
(a) That they must live closely.
(b) That they should stand alone.
(c) That they should hold no limits to their connection.
(d) That they should each stand guard over the solitude of the other.

5. What does Rilke write is a simplification of one's way of life?
(a) Forgiveness.
(b) Marriage.
(c) Love.
(d) Sex.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the commentator originally call the selections of Rilke's letters which he copied and gave out?

2. Rilke writes in his letters, "Why have they made our sex _______, instead of making it the place for the festival of our competency?"

3. In Rilke's first letter he suggests to the reader to "resolve to be always" what?

4. What does the commentator say was Rilke's mode of exploration during "the long periods between his well-known great creative bursts of energy"?

5. Who does Rilke say is incapable of such loving as he calls for?

(see the answer key)

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