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 helped Glück reclaim her faith.

Writing this poem broke a two-year writing block for Glück.

Glück chose from a thousand ideas she had, and set out to write from the perspectives of plants.

Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
1993

2002

2000

1992
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?
That which humans call "death"

The duality between mind and body

An old lover

The course of its life
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 ___"
Joy

Light

Nothing

Death
7 Who is the speaker?
The Wild Iris

God

Glück

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

Third

Second

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

Transformation

Rebirth

Cycles
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 human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

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

The ability to create
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 low shrubs

The seawater

The birds

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

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer

The Nobel Prize
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glack

Glook

To rhyme with "smoke"

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

A troubled relationship with her father, leading to her to marry young

The death of her mother

Dealing with anorexia and undergoing psychoanalysis, which shaped her thinking
17 For which of the following is Glück most renowned?
Metaphor

Her creative use of form

Figurative Language

Poetic personnae
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?
Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

Joyful, celebratory, emotive, intense

Depressing, austere, contemptul

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

They frame the purpose and focus of the collection

They embellish the speaker's joy

There is no relevance to the first lines
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?
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 see the birds darting in low shrubs

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth

To go through the door at the end of suffering

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

"a soul and unable / to speak"

"from the center of my life came"

"At the end of my suffering"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

birds darting in low shrubs.

a soul

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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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