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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what poem does Rilke write "Life and death: they are one, at core intertwined"?
(a) "The Poet Praises."
(b) "The Poet Speaks of Praising."
(c) "Woman's Lament II."
(d) "The Poems Praise."

2. What sculptor had an influence on Rilke's writing?
(a) Picasso.
(b) Da Vinci.
(c) Rodin.
(d) Rogarde.

3. In which poem does Rilke begin, "She who sleeps... To be so very awake, / near pure waking, that we into sleepers grow"?
(a) "Music."
(b) "Magic."
(c) "The Lovers."
(d) "Greek Love-Talk."

4. Mood notes in his introduction to Rilke's poetry that the poet was "in no way an _______, nor in his life."
(a) Actor.
(b) Amateur.
(c) Aesthete.
(d) Artist.

5. In the seventh of "The Seven Phallic Poems," what does the poet write that his "semen climbs gladly like"?
(a) A child.
(b) A tower.
(c) A god.
(d) A tree.

6. In Rilke's one-line poem of the love poems, he writes, "This is the mute-mouthed mounting of the ______."
(a) Phalli.
(b) Kiss.
(c) Silence.
(d) Woman.

7. In what year was Rilke born?
(a) 1875.
(b) 1899.
(c) 1919.
(d) 1800.

8. In the excerpt of Rilke's letter in the Introduction, what essay does he refer to reading?
(a) Cicero's Symposium.
(b) Platos' Cave.
(c) Homer's Odyssey.
(d) Plato's Symposium.

9. What does Rilke write is a simplification of one's way of life?
(a) Marriage.
(b) Forgiveness.
(c) Love.
(d) Sex.

10. In the poem, "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke writes, "Night. Oh you in depths ______."
(a) Emerging.
(b) Dissolving.
(c) Sighing.
(d) Weeping.

11. In one untitled poem from "Rilke's Poems of Other Difficulties," the poet writes, "Give me, oh earth, pure _____ / clay for the jug of tears."
(a) Unmingling.
(b) Reserved.
(c) Resistent.
(d) Unmitigated.

12. Rilke writes of love that "So whoever loves must try to act as if he had a _________."
(a) Great work.
(b) Holy thing.
(c) Priceless possession.
(d) Fragile jewel.

13. In "Gravity," Rilke writes, "Yet from the _____ falls, / as from a stored up cloud, / abundant rain of force."
(a) Sleeper.
(b) Lover.
(c) Dreamer.
(d) Weeper.

14. Rilke writes in one untitled poem, "Like the _____ of quickly grown-up girls / one braids differently."
(a) Hairpins.
(b) Ringlets.
(c) Pigtails.
(d) Lipstick.

15. From what collection is "The Poet Praises" taken?
(a) Letters to a Young Poet.
(b) Sonnets to Orpheus.
(c) Cycle--Nights.
(d) Duino Elegies.

Short Answer Questions

1. Rilke is regarded in his letters and his writing to be distinctly ahead of his time in what respect?

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

3. Rilke writes in one letter, "Almost everything ______ is difficult, and everything is _______."

4. What does Rilke comment in the excerpt from the Introduction that Eros "cannot be"?

5. What did the commentator originally call the selections of Rilke's letters which he copied and gave out?

(see the answer keys)

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