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?
Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.

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.

Writing this poem broke a two-year writing block for Glück.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
2002

1992

1993

2000
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
A key

Light

Nothing

A door
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
That which humans call "death"

The course of its life

The duality between mind and body

An old lover
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Rhymed

Sonnet

Blank

Free verse
6 Finish this quote: Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting. / Then ___"
Nothing

Joy

Light

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
Glück

God

The Gardener-Poet

The Wild Iris
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
First

First and second

Second

Third
9 Which is not a major theme in this poem?
Hell

Rebirth

Transformation

Cycles
10 Which of the following does not metaphorically resonate with the iris's experience as described in the poem?
The human fear of change, endings, and death

The life cycle of plants

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

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 life

Its career as a writer

The ability to create
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
Everyone relies on self-expression to survive; "being / a soul and unable / to speak" is a common fear

Everyone likes the iris flower

There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

There is "a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater" coming from the center of all our lives
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?
The weak sun

The seawater

The low shrubs

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

The Nobel Prize

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"

Glack

Glook
16 What defining event changed the course of Glück's life and writing when she was young?
A troubled relationship with her father, leading to her to marry young

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

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

Figurative Language

Her creative use of form

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

None

Pulitzer Prize

A Guggenheim
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?
They frame the purpose and focus of the collection

They embellish the speaker's joy

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

There is no relevance to the first lines
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

A regular doorway

A human construct

Something that God will close
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To suffer

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"You who do not remember"

"from the center of my life came"

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a soul

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater.

birds darting in low shrubs.

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