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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) 1915.
(d) 1924.

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

3. What does Rilke write in Part V of "The Seven Phallic Poems" has "weakened you and me"?
(a) Too ample space.
(b) Too strong an adversary.
(c) Too great a distance.
(d) Too strong a love.

4. In one of the untitled love poems, Rilke writes, "What fields are fragrant as your ______?"
(a) Eyes.
(b) Hands.
(c) Lips.
(d) Kiss.

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

6. What literary term applies to the following: "exhaust yourself like a spring"?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Simile.
(d) Irony.

7. The first collection of poems in "Rilke's Poems on Love" is titled what?
(a) "Rites to Passage."
(b) "Poems to Orpheus."
(c) "The Seven Phallic Poems."
(d) "Duino Elegies."

8. Who is one of the earliest figures of feminism who was friends with Rilke?
(a) Ellen Kay.
(b) Ellen Page.
(c) Sarah Albright.
(d) Victoria Ellison.

9. What does Rilke write about in conjunction with love and sex in Part VI of "The Seven Phallic Poems"?
(a) Redemption.
(b) Guilt.
(c) Death.
(d) Worry.

10. Rilke is regarded in his letters and his writing to be distinctly ahead of his time in what respect?
(a) Politics.
(b) Religion.
(c) Writing.
(d) Feminism.

11. Rilke writes of love that "So whoever loves must try to act as if he had a _________."
(a) Fragile jewel.
(b) Priceless possession.
(c) Great work.
(d) Holy thing.

12. In Rilke's one-line poem of the love poems, he writes, "This is the mute-mouthed mounting of the ______."
(a) Phalli.
(b) Kiss.
(c) Silence.
(d) Woman.

13. In "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke personifies "Night" as what?
(a) A river.
(b) A doom.
(c) A lover.
(d) A bird.

14. The commentator notes that all of the poems in "Rilke's Poems on Love" were written when he was how old?
(a) His twenties.
(b) His fifties.
(c) His forties and fifties.
(d) His thirties and forties.

15. Rilke writes in one letter, "At bottom ______ can help anyone else in life."
(a) Women.
(b) Everyone.
(c) No one.
(d) Men.

Short Answer Questions

1. The poem "Gong" makes use of what literary technique?

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

3. According to Rilke, there is "scarcely anything more difficult" than what?

4. When did Rilke undertake "the great giving"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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