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 helped Glück reclaim her faith.

Writing this poem broke a two-year writing block for Glück.

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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
2000

2002

1993

1992
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
A door

Nothing

Light

A key
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
An old lover

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"

The course of its life
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Sonnet

Blank

Free verse

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

Joy

Nothing

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Gardener-Poet

The Wild Iris

Glück

God
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
First and second

First

Second

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

Cycles

Hell

Transformation
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 two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
The ability to create

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

Its life

Its career as a writer
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

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

Everyone likes the iris flower
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

A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
To rhyme with "smoke"

Glook

Glack

To rhyme with "click"
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

The death of her mother

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

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

None

Pulitzer Prize

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

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense
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 can no longer communicate

One finds a voice

One is changed

One dies
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
Something that God will close

A regular doorway

A human construct

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To suffer

To see the birds darting in low shrubs
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"

"from the center of my life came"

"a soul and unable / to speak"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater.

a soul

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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