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

Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.

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?
2000

1992

2002

1993
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Light

A key

Nothing

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

An old lover

That which humans call "death"

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 ___"
Nothing

Death

Joy

Light
7 Who is the speaker?
Glück

The Gardener-Poet

God

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

Third

First and second

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

Rebirth

Transformation

Hell
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?
The ability to create

Its career as a writer

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

Its life
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 great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater" coming from the center of all our lives

There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?
The birds

The weak sun

The low shrubs

The seawater
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?
A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal

The Nobel Prize

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glack

Glook

To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"
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

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

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

Her creative use of form

Metaphor

Poetic personnae
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?
Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Depressing, austere, contemptul
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?
There is no relevance to the first lines

They embellish the speaker's joy

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

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 can no longer communicate

One finds a voice

One dies
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 suffer

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To see the birds darting in low shrubs
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"a soul and unable / to speak"

"You who do not remember"

"At the end of my suffering"

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

birds darting in low shrubs.

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

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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