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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. If the young poet discovers he should not be a poet, Rilke suggests that his inner examination will not be worthless. Why not?
2. How long ago has Rilke departed from the city he has left before arriving at the place where he composes the fourth letter?
3. What is Rilke's salutation at the end of the first letter?
4. What does Rilke call himself in relation to the young poet at the end of the first letter?
5. What does Rilke ask the young poet to do for him at the end of the first letter?
Short Essay Questions
1. Rilke places considerable emphasis on the necessary nature of art. What does he mean when he says that a poet is only a poet if he would die if he didn't write?
2. Rilke tells the young poet in the first letter that the only way for the poet to improve his writing is to "go into yourself". What does this mean?
3. What are Rilke's views on aesthetic criticism?
4. Rilke says that artists remains unaware of their best qualities. Why is this?
5. What does Rilke mean when, in letter four, he says that physical pleasure is not bad, but that physical pleasure is often "misuse[d] and squander[ed]"?
6. What does Rilke say about the reading and re-reading of works by Jens Peter Jacobsen?
7. What reason does Rilke give for advising the young poet against writing love poems?
8. How does Rilke advise the young poet to approach works of art?
9. What does Rilke mean when he tells the young poet in the first letter that the poet's work has "no individual style"?
10. What does Rilke mean when he says in letter three that sex "is not sufficiently human, [but] is only male"?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What would the artistic and academic worlds be like without aesthetic criticism, as it seems Rilke would have it? Is Rilke able to reject the idea of aesthetic criticism only because he is an artist himself?
Essay Topic 2
Throughout the letters, and especially in letter eight, Rilke suggests that people are not truly living their lives--that their experiences are dulled from familiarity and security. What type of living is Rilke advocating? What is this type of living like?
Essay Topic 3
What are Rilke's views on gender roles? How does Rilke view gender and its construction?
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This section contains 863 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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