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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Poems on Other Difficulties.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In a very short untitled poem, Rilke writes, "The voices warned me so I _____."
(a) Ran.
(b) Wept.
(c) Desisted.
(d) Ceased.

2. What sculptor had an influence on Rilke's writing?
(a) Rodin.
(b) Da Vinci.
(c) Picasso.
(d) Rogarde.

3. What does Rilke write in his first letter, imploring the reader to try to love?
(a) The questions themselves.
(b) The answers.
(c) Dignity.
(d) The truth.

4. Two-thirds of the poems in "Rilke's Poems on Other Difficulties" come from what year?
(a) 1932.
(b) 1919.
(c) 1924.
(d) 1915.

5. In Rilke's first letter he suggests to the reader to "resolve to be always" what?
(a) Ending.
(b) Trying.
(c) Beginning.
(d) Failing.

Short Answer Questions

1. One poem, using nature imagery, reads, "Cheerful gift from the chillier / mountains / attempts to leap into ____."

2. One of the shortest of the love poems consists of the following two lines: "Also to affirm even ______ / like a thing."

3. Rilke writes in "The Seven Phallic Poems," "We close ______ by means of our gazes."

4. In introducing Rilke's love poetry, the commentator notes that the poet's sexual and sensual undertones are mostly overlooked because of the striking impact of what?

5. What is the title of the poem which begins, "Center, how you draw yourself out"?

(see the answer key)

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