AP English Literature : Excerpt Purpose in Context
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Example Questions
Example Question #301 : Sat Subject Test In Literature
KING LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, (5)
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world,
Crack Nature's moulds, all germains spill at once,
That makes ingrateful man!
(1606)
What line contains an example of anastrophe?
Line 9
Line 1
Line 3
Line 5
Line 7
Line 9
Line 9 contains an inversion of ordinary word order. Instead of saying “that makes man ingrateful,” the passage has reversed the typical word order. The technical term for this inversion is anastrophe, and it is often used for emphasis or metrical effect.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606)
Example Question #302 : Sat Subject Test In Literature
KING LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, (5)
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world,
Crack Nature's moulds, all germains spill at once,
That makes ingrateful man!
(1606)
What literary device can be found in lines 1-2?
Parallelism
Paradox
Consonance
Epilogue
Assonance
Consonance
In lines 1-2, we have a frequent repetition of the hard “k” sound. Specifically, we have “crack,” “cheeks,” “cataracts,” and “hurricanes.” This is an example of consonance, the repetition of consonant sounds.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606)
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