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?
Glück knew she would win prizes for this poem.

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.
2 When was the collection as a whole published?
1992

2000

1993

2002
3 What is at the end of the iris's suffering?
Nothing

A key

Light

A door
4 What does the iris claim to remember?
An old lover

The duality between mind and body

That which humans call "death"

The course of its life
5 What meter is this poem written in?
Blank

Sonnet

Rhymed

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

Nothing

Light

Joy
7 Who is the speaker?
Glück

The Gardener-Poet

The Wild Iris

God
8 What perspective is the poem written in?
Second

Third

First

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

Rebirth

Hell

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 human fear of change, endings, and death

The two-year hiatus in Glück's writing

The life cycle of plants
11 What does the Iris claim to be "over" in the poem?
Its life

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

The ability to create

Its career as a writer
12 Why might this poem be relatable to anyone?
There is a metaphorical gardener in each one of us

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 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 birds

The low shrubs

The weak sun

The seawater
14 Which award did this collection go on to receive?
Robert Frost Medal

The Nobel Prize

A Pulitzer

A Gugenheim
15 How is "Glück" pronounced?
Glack

Glook

To rhyme with "click"

To rhyme with "smoke"
16 What defining event changed the course of Glück's life and writing when she was young?
The death of her mother

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

A scholarship to the Iowa Writer's Workshop

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

Metaphor

Her creative use of form

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

A Guggenheim

None

Pulitzer Prize
19 Which best summarizes the tone of the entire collection?
Depressing, austere, contemptul

Hopeful, sorrowful, contemplative, emotive

Rageful, disdainful, sharp, forgiving

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

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 finds a voice

One can no longer communicate

One is changed

One dies
22 What does the door represent in the poem?
A human construct

Something that God will close

A change in circumstances and a self-transformation

A regular doorway
23 What does the iris say is terrible?
To see the birds darting in low shrubs

To go through the door at the end of suffering

To suffer

To survive as consciousness buried in the dark earth
24 Which is an example of alliteration?
"At the end of my suffering"

"from the center of my life came"

"You who do not remember"

"a soul and unable / to speak"
25 What comes from the center of the iris's life?
birds darting in low shrubs.

a soul

consciousness buried / in the dark earth.

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

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