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 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.

Glück chose from a thousand ideas she had, and set out to write from the perspectives of plants.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
2002

1993

2000

1992
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Nothing

A door

A key

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

An old lover

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Sonnet

Free verse

Blank

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

Nothing

Light

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Wild Iris

Glück

God

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

First

Second

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

Rebirth

Hell

Transformation
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 fear of change, endings, and death

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

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 ability to create

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

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

The weak sun

The low shrubs

The seawater
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?
A Pulitzer

Robert Frost Medal

A Gugenheim

The Nobel Prize
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
To rhyme with "smoke"

Glook

Glack

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

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

Poetic personnae

Figurative Language

Her creative use of form
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
None

Pulitzer Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

A Guggenheim
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

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 frame the purpose and focus of the collection

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering

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 is changed

One finds a voice

One can no longer communicate
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
A regular doorway

A human construct

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

Something that God will close
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To suffer

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
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 soul

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

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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