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 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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
1992

2000

2002

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

A door

A key

Nothing
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
That which humans call "death"

The duality between mind and body

An old lover

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

Sonnet

Rhymed

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

Death

Nothing

Light
7 Who is the speaker?
The Gardener-Poet

God

The Wild Iris

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
Second

First and second

First

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

Transformation

Rebirth

Cycles
10 Which of the following does not metaphorically resonate with the iris's experience as described in the poem?
The life cycle of plants

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human fear of change, endings, and death
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
Its life

The ability to create

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

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

Everyone likes the iris flower

There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

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 weak sun

The birds

The low shrubs

The seawater
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?
To rhyme with "click"

To rhyme with "smoke"

Glack

Glook
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

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Poetic personnae

Figurative Language

Her creative use of form

Metaphor
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Nobel Prize in Literature

A Guggenheim

Pulitzer Prize

None
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Depressing, austere, contemptul

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

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?
They embellish the speaker's joy

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection

There is no relevance to the first lines
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?
One dies

One is changed

One can no longer communicate

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

Something that God will close

A regular doorway

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To suffer

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To go through the door at the end of suffering
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"

"from the center of my life came"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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

birds darting in low shrubs.

a soul

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