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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 "Gravity," Rilke writes, "Yet from the _____ falls, / as from a stored up cloud, / abundant rain of force."
(a) Sleeper.
(b) Dreamer.
(c) Lover.
(d) Weeper.

2. Who does the commentator compare Rilke's relationship toward sex to in the Introduction?
(a) Robert Frost.
(b) Hemingway.
(c) Fitzgerald.
(d) Norman Mailer.

3. In the seventh of "The Seven Phallic Poems," what does the poet write that his "semen climbs gladly like"?
(a) A god.
(b) A child.
(c) A tower.
(d) A tree.

4. What is the name of the artists' colony in Russian where Rilke was further influenced in his writing?
(a) Round Table.
(b) Worpswede.
(c) Schnizwald.
(d) Avondale.

5. From what collection is "The Poet Praises" taken?
(a) Cycle--Nights.
(b) Letters to a Young Poet.
(c) Sonnets to Orpheus.
(d) Duino Elegies.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of the poem which begins, "From indescribable transformation flash / such creations--: Feel! and trust!"?

2. In the excerpt of Rilke's letter in the Introduction, what essay does he refer to reading?

3. In the second of "The Seven Phallic Poems," who does the poet claim is "drawing my seed up into an abrupt tree"?

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

5. From what language has the author translated the poems and prose excerpts of "Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties"?

(see the answer key)

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