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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Rilke writes in one letter, "Almost everything ______ is difficult, and everything is _______."
(a) Sensual.
(b) Sexual.
(c) Love.
(d) Serious.

2. The commentator remarks in the Introduction, "It should be emphasized that Rilke's language is thoroughly _______."
(a) Dramatic.
(b) Sensual.
(c) Narrow.
(d) Explicit.

3. The commentator notes that all of the poems in "Rilke's Poems on Love" were written when he was how old?
(a) His fifties.
(b) His thirties and forties.
(c) His forties and fifties.
(d) His twenties.

4. What does Rilke accuse of vilifying sensuality and love?
(a) Womankind.
(b) Mankind.
(c) Christianity.
(d) The government.

5. What is the title of the poem which begins, "From indescribable transformation flash / such creations--: Feel! and trust!"?
(a) "Greek Love-Talk."
(b) "Gong."
(c) "Magic."
(d) "Music."

Short Answer Questions

1. Of what fruit does Rilke write of in "The Poet Praises"?

2. According to Rilke, there is "scarcely anything more difficult" than what?

3. What term describes the following example from "The Seven Phallic Poems"? "Daring landscape, such as an inner-seer/beholds in a crystal ball."

4. Mood notes in his introduction to Rilke's poetry that the poet was "in no way an _______, nor in his life."

5. The commentator regards that Rilke's "justly famed deep spirituality" is rooted essentially in what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the imagery and symbolism in the poems "From the Cycle: Nights" and "Force of Gravity."

2. What is Rilke's discussion regarding religion and the Christian church specifically in his letters?

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

4. How does Rilke suggest sexuality should be regarded in terms of innocence? What does he say of children?

5. What does Rilke write of in his first poem of "Poems of Other Difficulties"?

6. What does Rilke say regarding the institute of marriage and solitude?

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

8. What metaphors does Rilke use for a woman's womb in The Seven Phallic Poems?

9. Discuss the subjects of "Greek Love Talk" and "The Lovers." What imagery is used?

10. What does the commentator say regarding Rilke's feminism in the Prologue?

(see the answer keys)

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