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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. Writing of one of his principle motifs, the poet writes, "Transform stamen on stamen, / fill your interior _____."

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

3. What does Rilke suggest that the young are apt to do in love?

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

5. Rilke writes in an untitled poem, "Who keeps innerly _____, touches the roots of speech."

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What sexual elements are undertaken in The Seven Phallic Poems?

4. How does Mood describe Rilke's masculinity and femininity in his poetry? What does he say of Rilke's own life in this regard?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the subject and theme of "Mausoleum"? What mythological allusion does the poet use in this poem? What structural components stand out in this poem?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Rilke in terms of Expressionism and Existentialism. How does Rilke fit into these movements, when and where did they arise, and what in his works reflect these styles?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Rilke's relationship to nature. How does he use nature as a metaphor and a symbol in his poetry? How does he approach nature itself?

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