GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Contexts of British Poetry to 1660
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
The author of this poem was a contemporary of which of the following poets?
William Shakespeare
John Donne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Thomas Gray
Robert Burns
William Shakespeare
The author of this poem, Sir Walter Raleigh, was active during the Elizabethan Era and was a contemporary of William Shakespeare. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London by both Queen Elizabeth and King James I. He was eventually beheaded.
Passage adapted from "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh (1596)
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
Who is the author of this poem?
John Dryden
Caedmon of Whitby
Edmund Spenser
Geoffrey Chaucer
William Shakespeare
Edmund Spenser
This is English poet Edward Spenser’s unfinished epic The Faerie Queene (1590). It retells the Arthurian legend of the Redcrosse Knight and examines Christian virtues through allegory and conceit. The poem is distinguishable by its nine-line Spenserian stanzas, which follow an ABABBCBCC rhyme scheme, and by its incredible length – more than 2,000 stanzas.
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
Example Question #2 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
When was this poem published?
1490s
1690s
1640s
1540s
1590s
1590s
This poem was published in two installments in 1590 and in 1596. Even if you didn’t know this, Edmund Spenser only lived from the early 1550s to 1599, so there is only one tenable answer choice.
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
Example Question #3 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
Which of the following was the closest contemporary of this author?
Samuel Pepys
Christopher Marlowe
John Dryden
John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester
Ben Jonson
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe (c. 1564-1593) is a closer contemporary to Spenser (c. 1552-1599) than Jonson (1572-1637), Pepys (1633-1703), Dryden (1631-1700), or John Wilmot (1647-1680).
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
Example Question #4 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruel markes of many'a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
This poem praises which of the following monarchs?
Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I
Marie Antoinette
Henry VIII
Henry IV
Elizabeth I
The Faerie Queene praises the Tudors in general and Queen Elizabeth specifically (although by the end of its composition, Spenser was notably disillusioned with the monarchy), doing so through the form of a Christian allegory. Spenser received a substantial annual stipend from the queen as a result of this poem.
Passage adapted from Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590)
Example Question #5 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages...
Who is the author of this work?
Unknown/anonymous
Boethius
Bede
Chaucer
Langland
Chaucer
These are the famous opening lines of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1475). The Middle English work takes the form of more than 20 narratives (most written in verse) told by the main characters as they complete a pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral. Some of these main characters include the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Knight, the Pardoner, and the Reeve.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
What important event was occurring at the time of this work’s publication?
the invention of the printing press
Henry I becomes King of England
the Hundred Years’ War
the peak of the Black Death
the Italian Renaissance
the Hundred Years’ War
The poem was written during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between the kingdoms of England (specifically, the House of Plantagenet) and France (specifically, the House of Valois). The Black Death peaked earlier in the century (1340s and 1350s), Henry I was crowned at the very beginning of the century (1300), and the Italian Renaissance and the invention of the printing press began later (1500s and 1440, respectively).
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #6 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
When was this poem written?
1500s
1100s
1300s
1400s
1200s
1300s
Chaucer lived from approximately 1340 to 1400, and The Canterbury Tales (1475) is thought to have been written in the late 1300s.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
Which of the following is not a feature of the language of this poem?
fixed word order
few inflectional endings
gendered nouns
the incorporation of Norman-French words
the “great vowel shift”
gendered nouns
This poem is written in Middle English, which featured major changes in pronunciation, new vocabulary resulting from increased interaction with the French, the adoption of a fixed word order, and a marked decrease in inflectional endings. Middle English does not feature gendered grammar, however.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #7 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Who is the author of this poem?
Piers Plowman
Geoffrey Chaucer
William Langland
the Pearl Poet
John Donne
William Langland
These are the first lines of William Langland’s Middle English classic Piers Plowman.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
