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.

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 helped Glück reclaim her faith.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
1993

2000

1992

2002
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Light

A door

A key

Nothing
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
That which humans call "death"

The course of its life

An old lover

The duality between mind and body
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Rhymed

Free verse

Sonnet

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

Light

Joy

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Wild Iris

The Gardener-Poet

God

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
First

Third

First and second

Second
9 Which is not a major theme in this poem?
Hell

Rebirth

Transformation

Cycles
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 life cycle of plants

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

The ability to create

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

Its career as a writer
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

There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

Everyone likes the iris flower

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 birds

The weak sun

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

A Gugenheim

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
To rhyme with "smoke"

Glack

To rhyme with "click"

Glook
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

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

Poetic personnae

Figurative Language

Metaphor
18 What prize did Glück win in 2020?
Nobel Prize in Literature

Pulitzer Prize

A Guggenheim

None
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Depressing, austere, contemptul

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving
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 embellish the speaker's joy

There is no relevance to the first lines

They foreshadow the speaker's suffering
21 According to the iris, what happens when one returns from oblivion?
One can no longer communicate

One is changed

One dies

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 human construct

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To go through the door at the end of suffering

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To suffer
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"a soul and unable / to speak"

"At the end of my suffering"

"from the center of my life came"

"You who do not remember"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a soul

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

birds darting in low shrubs.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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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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