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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The poem "Gong" makes use of what literary technique?
(a) Onomatapeia.
(b) Irony.
(c) Absurdism.
(d) Segmentation.

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

3. Rilke writes in one letter, "Almost everything ______ is difficult, and everything is _______."
(a) Love.
(b) Sexual.
(c) Serious.
(d) Sensual.

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

5. What is the title of the poem which begins, "From indescribable transformation flash / such creations--: Feel! and trust!"?
(a) "Magic."
(b) "Gong."
(c) "Music."
(d) "Greek Love-Talk."

Short Answer Questions

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

2. The commentator regards that Rilke's "justly famed deep spirituality" is rooted essentially in what?

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

4. What does Rilke write that he holds to be "the highest task of a bond between two people"?

5. In the poem, "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke writes, "Night. Oh you in depths ______."

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rilke say regarding the institute of marriage and solitude?

2. What metaphors does Rilke use for a woman's womb in The Seven Phallic Poems?

3. What does Mood say in regard to Rilke's vision of Eros in the Prologue?

4. What are the subjects discussed in the "Woman's Lament" poems?

5. What reference does Rilke use to the god Hermes in The Seven Phallic Poems?

6. What references to Venus does Rilke make in the untitled poems of "Poems of Other Difficulties"?

7. What does Rilke write of using the metaphor of water, song, and play in his untitled poems?

8. Discuss the subjects of "Greek Love Talk" and "The Lovers." What imagery is used?

9. What does Rilke say of questions and answers in his first essay?

10. What is the subject and imagery in the poem "Magic"?

(see the answer keys)

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