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.

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 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?
A door

A key

Light

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

The duality between mind and body

The course of its life

An old lover
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Free verse

Rhymed

Blank

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

Death

Nothing

Joy
7 Who is the speaker?
God

The Wild Iris

The Gardener-Poet

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
Third

First

Second

First and 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 tendency to mourn and lay blame

The human fear of change, endings, and death

The life cycle of plants

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
Its life

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

The ability to create

Its career as a writer
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
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

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 seawater

The weak sun

The low shrubs

The birds
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 "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"

Glack

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

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

The death of her mother

A troubled relationship with her father, leading to her to marry young
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Poetic personnae

Her creative use of form

Metaphor

Figurative Language
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Pulitzer Prize

A Guggenheim

Nobel Prize in Literature

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

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?
They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

There is no relevance to the first lines

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 can no longer communicate

One is changed

One finds a voice
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
Something that God will close

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

A regular doorway

A human construct
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

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?
a soul

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

birds darting in low shrubs.

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

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