Faithful and Virtuous Night Quizzes

1 Which of the following poets was a major influence on Louise Glück as a young girl?

Rabindranath Tagore

Sylvia Plath

Robert Lowell

William Blake
2 Glück's parents taught her a great deal about which two subjects as a girl?

Mythology and Art History

Classical History and Mythology

Classical History and Physics

Art History and Physics
3 Which of the following did Louise Glück struggle with as a teenager?

Anorexia

Binge-Eating Syndrome

Bipolar Depression

Schizophrenia
4 Glück's struggles as a teenager helped instill in her a lifelong interest in what?

Luxury clothing and cars

Psychoanalysis

Global religion

Outdoor activities like hiking and canoeing
5 After her struggles as a teenager, Louise Glück earned what?

Neither a college degree nor a high school diploma

Both a college degree and a high school diploma

A high school diploma, but not a college degree

A college degree, but not a high school diploma
6 A major turning point in the young Glück's writing career came during which event?

She took on work as a secretary.

She married her mentor Stanley Kunitz.

She was invited to teach at Goddard College in Vermont.

She learned from Léonie Adams at Columbia University.
7 One major feature of Louise Glück's wider oeuvre is what?

The adoption of various poetic personae, influenced by her lifelong interests in myth and history

A tendency towards devotional poetry, inspired by Glück's deep interest in religion

The use of effusive, ornate, and elliptical poetic language

The deployment of various rigid forms, most of which tend towards the lengthier side
8 Another element central to Louise Glück's wider oeuvre is what?

The presence of many LGBTQ+ characters and personae

The presence of nature and the natural world

The total absence of loss and trauma

A focus on the political issues facing both the US and Germany
9 Glück's work over the years has been explicitly influenced by all of the following EXCEPT:

The poetry of Catullus

Homer's "Odyssey"

The Persephone Myth

Dante's "Divine Comedy"
10 Which of the following is NOT a major accolade received by Louise Glück?

The Whiting Award for Poetry

The Bollingen Prize

The Nobel Prize in Literature

The Poet Laureateship of the United States
11 Critics have noted that, while Louise Glück is often labelled as a Confessional, her work differs from Confessional poetry in what way?

In her work, she makes too much use of natural imagery and allusions.

In her work, she only talks about the lives of other people, rather than herself.

In her work, she holds herself at too much of a distance to be considered Confessional.

In her work, she often tries to maintain the illusion of privacy or distance herself from a complete understanding of herself and her audience.
12 Which of the following best describes (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night?

It maintains a very similar focus to Glück's wider oeuvre, but its style and tone are unrecognizable as Glück's.

It maintains the stark language and minimalist forms of Glück's wider oeuvre, but the focus of its content is highly different.

It is highly consistent with the tone and style of Glück's wider oeuvre.

It represents a departure from the style of Glück's wider oeuvre and leans away from her otherwise stark language and forms.
13 Which of the following is NOT a major thematic focus of (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night?

Old Age

Death and Silence

Homosexuality

The Family
14 During the process of writing (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night, Glück was very influenced by:

Poets like Maggie Nelson and Ocean Vuong

Prose writers like Kafka and Iris Murdoch

Prose writers like Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges

Playwrights like August Wilson and Lorraine Hansberry
15 Another thing that motivated Glück throughout the writing of (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night was:

The maintenance of low expectations for herself

The death of her sister Tereze

The heavy involvement of her ex-husband in her life

The maintenance of a perfectionist mindset
16 When Glück began writing (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night, the central persona in the book was:

The character of the elderly writer in "The Open Window"

The female writer persona who is present in the final collection

The English painter who eventually took center stage in the final collection

A child who lived with their seamstress mother in a farmhouse
17 Glück's eventual choice to use a central persona in (the collection) Faithful and Virtuous Night was based in what?

Her interest in writing specifically from a Transatlantic perspective

Her timidness to express issues facing her personal life

Her desire to write an in unfettered manner about a wide variety of controversial issues

Her interest in exploring the theme of silence, but an aesthetic disinterest in doing so with her own voice
18 Which of the following accurately describes the form and style of "Parable"?

It is the first of various spiritual prose poems presented in the collection.

It lapses into the prosaic style and language of a spiritual text but maintains poetic form.

It is the poem in the collection closest to the wider oeuvre of Louise Glück.

It is a halting poem, one rife with uncertainty and tension.
19 In what way does the form of "Parable" mirror its content?

The lines of the poem get shorter and shorter towards the end. In the same way, as one ages, their time on earth gets shorter and shorter.

The poem appears as a single chunk of prose, but in reality is marked by dynamic line breaks. In the same way, the poem's travelers appear on their surface to have not journeyed anywhere, but on a deeper level have journeyed through time by aging.

The poem is written in spare prose. In the same way, the travelers in the poem have divested themselves of worldly goods and live in spartan conditions.

The poem is a parable. Importantly, St. Francis, who is referenced in the poem, was a famed teller of parables.
20 In "Parable," cyclicality is most strongly present in:

The changing of the seasons around the travelers

The fact that the poem explores the same event from many different angles

The philosophy of the travelers, which takes on a tautological quality

The travelers' journey, which returns them to their starting point
21 In "Parable," the travelers divide into two factions that can roughly be described as:

A faction which does not want to undertake the journey and one which does

A faction which has more conservative political leanings and one which has more liberal leanings

A faction which believes in the existence of the divine and one which does not

A faction which believes the journey should have purpose, and a faction which believes that the journey should be free, allowing the travelers to encounter purpose and truth themselves
22 Which of the following best summarizes the ultimate lesson of "Parable"?

People waste too much of their time arguing over the proper way to live.

One should always be prepared when setting out on a hike or journey.

It is worthwhile to reflect on the true meaning and purpose of life.

The strange miracle of aging provides its own truth and justification for the journey of life.
23 All of the following words contribute to a religious air in "Parable" except:

"Consecrated"

"Pilgrims"

"Whither"

"Souls"
24 "An Adventure" is formally distinct from Glück's wider oeuvre in what way?

It is a prose poem.

It is written in numbered sections.

It is very short and precise.

It is very lengthy.
25 In the first sections of "An Adventure," it becomes clear that the speaker is what?

A widow

A divorcee

Afflicted with dementia

A poet

Faithful and Virtuous Night

by Louise Gluck

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