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.

Writing this poem helped Glück reclaim her faith.

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

1993

2002

1992
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Nothing

Light

A door

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

The duality between mind and body

The course of its life

That which humans call "death"
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Sonnet

Rhymed

Free verse

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

Nothing

Death

Joy
7 Who is the speaker?
The Wild Iris

The Gardener-Poet

God

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
Third

Second

First

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

Cycles

Transformation

Rebirth
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 human fear of change, endings, and death

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The life cycle of plants
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
Its career as a writer

Its life

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

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

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

Everyone likes the iris flower

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 low shrubs

The seawater

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

A Gugenheim

Robert Frost Medal

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

Glack

To rhyme with "click"

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?
Figurative Language

Poetic personnae

Metaphor

Her creative use of form
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Pulitzer Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

A Guggenheim

None
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense
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 can no longer communicate

One finds a voice

One is changed

One dies
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

Something that God will close

A human construct

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To suffer

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth
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?
birds darting in low shrubs.

a soul

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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