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 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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
2000

1993

2002

1992
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
A door

A key

Nothing

Light
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
The course of its life

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"

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

Blank

Rhymed

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

Nothing

Joy

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Gardener-Poet

Glück

God

The Wild Iris
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

Hell

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 fear of change, endings, and death

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
The ability to create

Its life

Its career as a writer

The human fear of being a soul and unable to speak; death
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
Everyone likes the iris flower

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 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 weak sun

The birds

The seawater

The low shrubs
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?
The Nobel Prize

A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glack

To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"

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

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
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Her creative use of form

Metaphor

Figurative Language

Poetic personnae
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Pulitzer Prize

A Guggenheim

None

Nobel Prize in Literature
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Depressing, austere, contemptul

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive
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 foreshadow the speaker's suffering

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 can no longer communicate

One finds a voice

One is changed

One dies
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
Something that God will close

A regular doorway

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

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

To suffer

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"You who do not remember"

"At the end of my suffering"

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"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 soul

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

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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