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 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.

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

Writing this poem helped Glück reclaim her faith.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
2002

2000

1992

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

Nothing

A key

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

That which humans call "death"

The course of its life

The duality between mind and body
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Sonnet

Free verse

Rhymed

Blank
6 Finish this quote: Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting. / Then ___"
Nothing

Light

Joy

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Wild Iris

God

The Gardener-Poet

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

First

Second

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

Rebirth

Transformation

Cycles
10 Which of the following does not metaphorically resonate with the iris's experience as described in the poem?
The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The human fear of change, endings, and death

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?
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

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?
The Nobel Prize

Robert Frost Medal

A Gugenheim

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glack

To rhyme with "click"

To rhyme with "smoke"

Glook
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

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

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

The death of her mother
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Figurative Language

Poetic personnae

Her creative use of form

Metaphor
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
A Guggenheim

Nobel Prize in Literature

None

Pulitzer Prize
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive
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

There is no relevance to the first lines

They embellish the speaker's joy
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?
One dies

One finds a voice

One can no longer communicate

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

A regular doorway

Something that God will close

A human construct
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To go through the door at the end of suffering

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To suffer
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"a soul and unable / to speak"

"from the center of my life came"

"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

a soul

birds darting in low shrubs.

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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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