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 knew she would win prizes for this poem.

Writing this poem helped Glück reclaim her faith.

Glück chose from a thousand ideas she had, and set out to write from the perspectives of plants.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?

1993

1992

2002

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

Light

Nothing

A key

A door
4 What does the iris claim to remember?

That which humans call "death"

The course of its life

An old lover

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

Free verse

Blank

Sonnet

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

Light

Death

Joy

Nothing
7 Who is the speaker?

The Gardener-Poet

God

The Wild Iris

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?

Third

First

Second

First and second
9 Which is not a major theme in this poem?

Hell

Cycles

Rebirth

Transformation
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 two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human fear of change, endings, and death

The life cycle of plants
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?

Its career as a writer

The human fear of being a soul and unable to speak; death

Its life

The ability to create
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?

Everyone likes the iris flower

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
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?

The seawater

The low shrubs

The birds

The weak sun
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?

The Nobel Prize

A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

Glack

To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"

Glook
16 What defining event changed the course of Glück's life and writing when she was young?

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

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

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

Her creative use of form

Metaphor

Poetic personnae

Figurative Language
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?

None

A Guggenheim

Pulitzer Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

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

There is no relevance to the first lines

They embellish the speaker's joy

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

One dies

One can no longer communicate

One is changed

One finds a voice
22 What does the door represent in the poem?

A regular doorway

A human construct

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

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

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

To suffer
24 Which is an example of alliteration?

"from the center of my life came"

"You who do not remember"

"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

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

birds darting in low shrubs.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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Wild Iris study guide contains a biography of Louise Gluck, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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