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 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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?

1993

2002

1992

2000
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?

A door

Light

Nothing

A key
4 What does the iris claim to remember?

An old lover

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"

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 ___"

Nothing

Light

Death

Joy
7 Who is the speaker?

The Gardener-Poet

God

Glück

The Wild Iris
8 What perspective is the poem written in?

First and second

Second

Third

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

Hell

Transformation

Cycles

Rebirth
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?

Its life

The ability to create

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?

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

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 low shrubs

The weak sun

The seawater

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

A Gugenheim

Robert Frost Medal

The Nobel Prize

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

Glook

Glack

To rhyme with "smoke"

To rhyme with "click"
16 What defining event changed the course of Glück's life and writing when she was young?

The death of her mother

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking

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

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

Her creative use of form

Metaphor

Poetic personnae

Figurative Language
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?

Pulitzer Prize

None

Nobel Prize in Literature

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

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Depressing, austere, contemptul
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 finds a voice

One is changed

One can no longer communicate

One dies
22 What does the door represent in the poem?

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

A human construct

Something that God will close

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To suffer
24 Which is an example of alliteration?

"You who do not remember"

"from the center of my life came"

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?

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

a soul

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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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