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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In one untitled poem of "Rilke's Poems on Other Difficulties," Rilke writes, "Play the ____, the single ones, quickly and you..."

3. In Rilke's one-line poem of the love poems, he writes, "This is the mute-mouthed mounting of the ______."

4. What does Rilke write in Part V of "The Seven Phallic Poems" has "weakened you and me"?

5. What, with absinthe, "trickle through silent sieves of kisses of bitter essence"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Discuss the imagery and symbolism in the poems "From the Cycle: Nights" and "Force of Gravity."

3. In the untitled poems following "The Lovers," what imagery does the poet use?

4. What is the poet writing about in "The Poet Praises"?

5. What does the commentator say regarding Rilke's feminism in the Prologue?

6. What influences does Mood speak of on Rilke's writing in his introduction to "Poems of Other Difficulties"?

7. How does Rilke suggest sexuality should be regarded in terms of innocence? What does he say of children?

8. Discuss the subjects and imagery of "The Poems Praise."

9. How does death intermingle with sex in The Seven Phallic Poems? How does childhood?

10. In the untitled poems of "Rilke's Poems of Other Difficulties," how does Rilke write of the gods?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss "Magic" and "Force of Gravity" in terms of subject, theme, symbolism, imagery, and structure.

Essay Topic 2

In Rilke's letters, what does he say regarding the institution of marriage? What mistakes do people make in marrying? How does he suggest one avoid these pitfalls?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the poems "Woman's Lament I" and "Woman's Lament II." What structural differences are there in these poems? What similarities in regard to subject and theme?

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