Wild Iris Quizzes

Wild Iris Quiz "The Wild Iris" and Glück

By Isabella Ribeiro · Edited by James Cooper · Last reviewed August 17, 2023

1 What is most significant about the context in which this poem was written?

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 broke a two-year writing block for Glück.

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

2002

1992

1993

2000
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 duality between mind and body

The course of its life

An old lover

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

Blank

Free verse

Sonnet

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

Nothing

Joy

Death

Light
7 Who is the speaker?

The Wild Iris

God

The Gardener-Poet

Glück
8 What perspective is the poem written in?

First and second

Second

Third

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

Hell

Rebirth

Cycles

Transformation
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 fear of change, endings, and death

The human tendency to mourn and lay blame

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?

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

Its career as a writer

Its life

The ability to create
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 seawater

The birds

The low shrubs

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

Robert Frost Medal

A Pulitzer

The Nobel Prize

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?

To rhyme with "smoke"

Glook

To rhyme with "click"

Glack
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

Her creative use of form

Figurative Language
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?

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 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 is changed

One finds a voice

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

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

Something that God will close

A human construct

A regular doorway
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"

"At the end of my suffering"

"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.

birds darting in low shrubs.

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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