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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. What literary term applies to the following: "exhaust yourself like a spring"?
(a) Simile.
(b) Irony.
(c) Alliteration.
(d) Metaphor.

2. The commentator concludes the introduction to Rilke's love poetry in saying, "Rilke's poetry is somewhat precious and even _______."
(a) Romantic.
(b) Effiminate.
(c) Masculine.
(d) Ephemeral.

3. Who does Rilke say is incapable of such loving as he calls for?
(a) Young people.
(b) Women.
(c) Virgins.
(d) Religious people.

4. The poem "Gong" makes use of what literary technique?
(a) Absurdism.
(b) Onomatapeia.
(c) Segmentation.
(d) Irony.

5. From what language has the author translated the poems and prose excerpts of "Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties"?
(a) French.
(b) Austrian.
(c) Bohemian.
(d) German.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the poem, "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke writes, "Night. Oh you in depths ______."

2. 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."

3. In what poem does Rilke write "Life and death: they are one, at core intertwined"?

4. In "From the Cycle: Nights," Rilke personifies "Night" as what?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the subjects and imagery of "The Poems Praise."

2. How does death intermingle with sex in The Seven Phallic Poems? How does childhood?

3. What sexual elements are undertaken in The Seven Phallic Poems?

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

5. What does Rilke say regarding the young and marriage in his letters?

6. In the untitled poems following "The Lovers," what imagery does the poet use?

7. What influences does Mood speak of on Rilke's writing in his introduction to "Poems of Other Difficulties"?

8. What does Rilke write of "silence" in his untitled poems?

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

10. What are the subjects discussed in the "Woman's Lament" poems?

(see the answer keys)

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