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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 6.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Near the close of the fourth letter, Rilke mentions the positive aspects of the young poet's new profession. What are those positive aspects?
(a) Discipline and solitude.
(b) Independence and solitude.
(c) Discipline and self-sufficiency.
(d) Inedependence and self-sufficiency.

2. In the first letter, Rilke says he cannot offer critical commentary on the young poet's work. Why?
(a) Rilke is ill and does not have the physical stamina to read the young poet's work.
(b) Rilke cannot read the young poet's work because he is blind.
(c) Rilke believes the young poet's work is flawless.
(d) Rilke says that critical commentary is insufficient for understanding a work of art.

3. Rilke compares a person to a house and a sadness to what?
(a) A yard.
(b) A table.
(c) A guest.
(d) A door.

4. In the fourth letter, where does Rilke instruct the young poet to look for answers to his deepest questions?
(a) Sexuality.
(b) Poetry.
(c) Creativity.
(d) Nature.

5. Rilke indicates that in the future, men and women will approach each other differently than they do at the time of his writing. How will they approach each other?
(a) Not as opposites, but as human beings.
(b) Not as sexual objects, but as human beings.
(c) Not as enemies, but as friends.
(d) Not as lovers, but as friends.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Rilke claim a sadness indicates about a person's life or self?

2. Where does Rilke say humans should look for lessons on how to approach sex and pleasure?

3. In what manner does Rilke say people should approach love?

4. Rilke tells the young poet that in regard to his sickness, he is a sick man, a convalescent, and what else?

5. Why isn't Rilke able to fill the request the young poet poses in his third letter to Rilke?

(see the answer key)

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