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.

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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?

1992

2000

1993

2002
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?

A door

A key

Light

Nothing
4 What does the iris claim to remember?

That which humans call "death"

An old lover

The duality between mind and body

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

Free verse

Rhymed

Sonnet

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

Light

Joy

Death

Nothing
7 Who is the speaker?

Glück

The Wild Iris

God

The Gardener-Poet
8 What perspective is the poem written in?

First

First and second

Third

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

Transformation

Cycles

Rebirth

Hell
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 human fear of change, endings, and death

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing
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?

There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

Everyone likes the iris flower

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

Everyone relies on self-expression to survive; "being / a soul and unable / to speak" is a common fear
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?

The low shrubs

The birds

The seawater

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

A Gugenheim

The Nobel Prize

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

To rhyme with "click"

Glack

To rhyme with "smoke"

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

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

The death of her mother

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

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?

Pulitzer Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

None

A Guggenheim
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection

They embellish the speaker's joy

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

One finds a voice

One can no longer communicate

One dies

One is changed
22 What does the door represent in the poem?

Something that God will close

A human construct

A regular doorway

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

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To suffer

To go through the door at the end of suffering
24 Which is an example of alliteration?

"from the center of my life came"

"You who do not remember"

"At the end of my suffering"

"a soul and unable / to speak"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?

birds darting in low shrubs.

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

a soul

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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