Wild Iris Quizzes

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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.

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.

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

1992

2000

1993

2002
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

Sonnet

Blank

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

Light

Nothing

Joy

Death
7 Who is the speaker?

God

The Gardener-Poet

The Wild Iris

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?

Third

First

First and second

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

Transformation

Cycles

Hell

Rebirth
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 two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

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

The ability to create

Its life
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?

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

Everyone likes the iris flower

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

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 seawater

The low shrubs

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

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer

A Gugenheim

The Nobel Prize
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

Glook

To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"

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

The death of her mother

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
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?

Figurative Language

Metaphor

Poetic personnae

Her creative use of form
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?

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive
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 foreshadow the speaker's suffering

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection

They embellish the speaker's joy
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?

One dies

One finds a voice

One is changed

One can no longer communicate
22 What does the door represent in the poem?

A human construct

Something that God will close

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To suffer

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth
24 Which is an example of alliteration?

"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"from the center of my life came"
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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