Wild Iris Quizzes

Wild Iris Quiz "The Wild Iris" and Glück

1 What is most significant about the context in which this poem was written?
Writing this poem broke a two-year writing block for Glück.

Glück chose from a thousand ideas she had, and set out to write from the perspectives of plants.

Writing this poem helped Glück reclaim her faith.

Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
1993

2002

1992

2000
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Nothing

A door

Light

A key
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
The course of its life

That which humans call "death"

An old lover

The duality between mind and body
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Sonnet

Rhymed

Blank

Free verse
6 Finish this quote: Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting. / Then ___"
Joy

Light

Nothing

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Gardener-Poet

The Wild Iris

God

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
First

Third

First and second

Second
9 Which is not a major theme in this poem?
Rebirth

Hell

Transformation

Cycles
10 Which of the following does not metaphorically resonate with the iris's experience as described in the poem?
The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The human fear of change, endings, and death

The life cycle of plants

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
The human fear of being a soul and unable to speak; death

Its career as a writer

Its life

The ability to create
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

Everyone relies on self-expression to survive; "being / a soul and unable / to speak" is a common fear

There is "a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater" coming from the center of all our lives

Everyone likes the iris flower
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?
The weak sun

The low shrubs

The seawater

The birds
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?
A Gugenheim

Robert Frost Medal

The Nobel Prize

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glook

To rhyme with "click"

To rhyme with "smoke"

Glack
16 What defining event changed the course of Glück's life and writing when she was young?
Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

A troubled relationship with her father, leading to her to marry young

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

The death of her mother
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Figurative Language

Metaphor

Her creative use of form

Poetic personnae
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Nobel Prize in Literature

A Guggenheim

None

Pulitzer Prize
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?
They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

They embellish the speaker's joy

There is no relevance to the first lines

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?
One is changed

One dies

One finds a voice

One can no longer communicate
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

Something that God will close

A human construct

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To suffer

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To go through the door at the end of suffering
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"from the center of my life came"

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

a soul

birds darting in low shrubs.

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