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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In the Introduction to "Rilke's Poems on Other Difficulties," Mood writes that Rilke "began as a bit of a sticky late ______."
(a) Romantic.
(b) Dadaist.
(c) Absurdist.
(d) Surrealist.

3. Writing of one of his principle motifs, the poet writes, "Transform stamen on stamen, / fill your interior _____."
(a) Rose.
(b) Death.
(c) Pitcher.
(d) Heart.

4. In the poem, "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke writes, "Night. Oh you in depths ______."
(a) Weeping.
(b) Sighing.
(c) Emerging.
(d) Dissolving.

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

6. Of what fruit does Rilke write of in "The Poet Praises"?
(a) Strawberry.
(b) Grapefruit.
(c) Orange.
(d) Banana.

7. What did the commentator originally call the selections of Rilke's letters which he copied and gave out?
(a) "Rilke on Love."
(b) "Notes on Love."
(c) "Letters of Love."
(d) "The Love Letters."

8. The commentator remarks in the Introduction, "It should be emphasized that Rilke's language is thoroughly _______."
(a) Dramatic.
(b) Explicit.
(c) Sensual.
(d) Narrow.

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

10. In the second of "The Seven Phallic Poems," who does the poet claim is "drawing my seed up into an abrupt tree"?
(a) A maiden.
(b) Summer.
(c) Love.
(d) A garden.

11. In an untitled poem from "Rilke's Poems on Other Difficulties," Rilke writes, "Great star of love's priestesses, which _____ kindles from its own right."
(a) Feeling.
(b) Misery.
(c) Heartbreak.
(d) Beauty.

12. When did Rilke undertake "the great giving"?
(a) 1915.
(b) 1900.
(c) 1922.
(d) 1951.

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

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

15. From what language has the author translated the poems and prose excerpts of "Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties"?
(a) Austrian.
(b) German.
(c) French.
(d) Bohemian.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Rilke's Poems on Other Difficulties," Rilke writes in one poem from 1924, "We are not to know why / this and that _____ us."

2. Rilke writes in one untitled poem, "Like the _____ of quickly grown-up girls / one braids differently."

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

4. In the introduction to "Rilke's Poems on Love," the commentator states that Rilke's imagery is all what?

5. "Woman's Lament II" ends with the line, "and the ________ is not in vain."

(see the answer keys)

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