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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. In "The Dragon-Princess," Rilke suggests that we hold our life to the most difficult, and that which now "still seems to us the most alien will become" what?
(a) What blinds us.
(b) What we most trust.
(c) What kills us.
(d) What frees us.

2. Which word of Rilke's epitaph is set aside by commas?
(a) Rose.
(b) Love.
(c) Desire.
(d) Sensual.

3. From which of Rilke's poems does Mood quote "The Difficulty of Dying," "the glance while, as though caught by a whirlpool's / circling, swims a little while"?
(a) "Greek Love-Talk."
(b) "Dying Rose."
(c) "The Lovers."
(d) "The Rose Window."

4. How old was Rilke when he wrote "The Dragon-Princess"?
(a) His thirties.
(b) His forties.
(c) His twenties.
(d) His teens.

5. In "Blood-Remembering," from what comes poetry?
(a) Life.
(b) Blood-remembering.
(c) Secrets.
(d) Truth.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Mood quote in the Epilogue with the line, "... tormentor and tormented pedant and dunce wooer and wooed speechless and reafflicted with speech in the dark mud nothing to emend there"?

2. What literary technique is used in the following? "lifted out of the riverbed of endless possibilities"?

3. What does Rilke begin with in his discussion of "The Dragon-Princess"?

4. What is the "romantic notion held by many young people," that Mood speaks of in introducing "Blood-Remembering"?

5. From what comes the line, "Murderers are / easily comprehended"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What metaphor does Rilke make in the end of "The Dragon-Princess" which echoes that of theories of psychology?

2. What happens once man has acclimated himself to solitude, according to Rilke in "The Dragon-Princess"?

3. What does Mood say of Orpheus in his interpretation of "The Difficulty of Dying"?

4. What does Rilke remark of childhood memories in "Blood-Remembering"?

5. What must one "see" in order to write a single verse, according to Rilke?

6. What does Mood preface "Blood-Remembering" with, in discussing the poet?

7. What three authors does the commentator compare to Rilke's quote, "Murderers are easily comprehended"?

8. What does Rilke speak of initially regarding solitude in "The Dragon-Princess"?

9. In Mood's discussion of "The Difficulty of Dying," what symbol does he analyze first?

10. What does "Blood-Remembering" mean?

(see the answer keys)

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