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.

Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.

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

1992

2000

1993
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?
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

Blank

Sonnet

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

Light

Joy

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Gardener-Poet

God

Glück

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

Second

First

First and second
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 two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The human fear of change, endings, and death
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
Its career as a writer

Its life

The ability to create

The human fear of being a soul and unable to speak; death
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
Everyone relies on self-expression to survive; "being / a soul and unable / to speak" is a common fear

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
13 Which detail connects to the designation of the iris as "wild"?
The birds

The low shrubs

The weak sun

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

A Gugenheim

A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
To rhyme with "smoke"

Glack

Glook

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?
Poetic personnae

Metaphor

Figurative Language

Her creative use of form
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Pulitzer Prize

None

A Guggenheim

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

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Depressing, austere, contemptul

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense
20 What do the first lines in "The Wild Iris" do in relation to the whole collection?
They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

They embellish the speaker's joy

There is no relevance to the first lines

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?
One dies

One can no longer communicate

One finds a voice

One is changed
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
A regular doorway

A human construct

Something that God will close

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To suffer

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
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"You who do not remember"

"At the end of my suffering"

"from the center of my life came"

"a soul and unable / to speak"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

a soul

birds darting in low shrubs.

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

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