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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Difficulty of Dying: Rilke's Self-Composed Epitaph.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which poem of Rilke's does Mood refer to in the lines, "And this: that one opens like a lid, / and lying under there nothing but eyelids"?
(a) "The Rose Window."
(b) "Greek Love-Talk."
(c) "The Lovers."
(d) "The Bowl of Roses."

2. Who does Mood quote in the Epilogue as having written, "A social order which draws a distinction between the wish and the deed, between the criminal and the righteous, is this a kingdom of darkness"?
(a) Jesus Christ.
(b) Norman O. Brown.
(c) Matthew.
(d) Samuel Beckett.

3. Rilke's letters are examples of what?
(a) Verisimilitude.
(b) Irony.
(c) Prose.
(d) Verse.

4. From what book of the Bible does Mood quote in the Epilogue?
(a) Luke.
(b) Ecclesiastes.
(c) Matthew.
(d) James.

5. According to Rilke, there is "scarcely anything more difficult" than what?
(a) To stand alone.
(b) To leave one's love.
(c) To birth a child.
(d) To love one another.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the Prologue, who does the commentator say is the other of the two greatest writers of the twentieth century?

2. In the poem, "Mausoleum," what punctuation does Rilke use in a nontraditional way, at the beginning of two lines?

3. Who said, "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment."

4. What sculptor had an influence on Rilke's writing?

5. In a very short untitled poem, Rilke writes, "The voices warned me so I _____."

(see the answer key)

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