Wild Iris Quizzes

Wild Iris Quiz "The Wild Iris" and Glück

By Isabella Ribeiro · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed August 17, 2023

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.

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?

2000

1993

2002

1992
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?

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"

An old lover

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

Blank

Rhymed

Free verse

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

Nothing

Joy

Death

Light
7 Who is the speaker?

The Wild Iris

Glück

God

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

Second

Third

First and second

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

Cycles

Transformation

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 two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

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

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

Its life

The ability to create
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?

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

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

Everyone likes the iris flower
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?

The birds

The seawater

The low shrubs

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

A Pulitzer

The Nobel Prize

Robert Frost Medal

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

Glack

Glook

To rhyme with "click"

To rhyme with "smoke"
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 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

Poetic personnae

Metaphor

Figurative Language
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?

None

Nobel Prize in Literature

A Guggenheim

Pulitzer Prize
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

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 frame the purpose and focus of the collection

There is no relevance to the first lines

They embellish the speaker's joy

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?

One dies

One is changed

One can no longer communicate

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 go through the door at the end of suffering

To suffer

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth
24 Which is an example of alliteration?

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"

"You who do not remember"

"from the center of my life came"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?

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

birds darting in low shrubs.

a soul

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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