GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Contexts of British Prose 1660–1925
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
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Example Questions
Example Question #11 : Contexts Of British Prose
Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities was set during which significant historical event?
the Industrial Revolution
the Hundred Years’ War
the French Revolution
the Great Fire of London
the American Revolution
the French Revolution
A Tale of Two Cities takes place in the years leading up to and during the French Revolution (1789-1799). It concerns the adventures of Sydney Carton, his doppelgänger Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette and her father, the Defarges, Jacques One through Three, and the Crunchers.
Example Question #11 : Contexts Of Prose
Which of the following works humorously parodies the Gothic novel?
Sense and Sensibility
Wuthering Heights
Mansfield Park
Jane Eyre
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey is a parodic Gothic novel.
Example Question #12 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Who is the author of this novel?
Jonathan Swift
Emily Brontë
Jane Austen
Charles Dickens
Oscar Wilde
Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’ novel, published in weekly installments in 1859.
Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels (1726), Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice (1813), Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights (1847), and Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Grey (1891).
Example Question #13 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
During what major historical event does this novel occur?
The English Reformation
The American Revolution
The French Revolution
The English Restoration
The War of Austrian Succession
The French Revolution
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is set in London and Paris immediately before and during the French Revolution (1775 and 1792).
Example Question #14 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Which of the following is not a character in this novel?
Madame Defarge
Sidney Carton
Lucie Manette
Ebenezer Scrooge
Charles Darnay
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is a main character in Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. All the others are primary characters in A Tale of Two Cities.
(Passage adapted from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, (1859))
Example Question #15 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it.
Who is the author of this novel?
Jane Austen
Horace Walpole
Charlotte Brontë
Charles Dickens
George Eliot
Jane Austen
Jane Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility, although it was originally published anonymously, by “A Lady.”
(Passage adapted from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, (1811))
Example Question #16 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it.
Which of the following books was not also written by the author of this passage?
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
Emma
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre was written in 1847 by Charlotte Brontë. Pride and Prejudice (1813), Emma (1815), Northanger Abbey (1817), and Persuasion (1817) are all by Jane Austen.
(Passage adapted from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, (1811))
Example Question #17 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it.
What genre does this novel belong to?
Comedy of Manners
Melodrama
Tragicomedy
Gothic
Roman à Clef
Comedy of Manners
Sense and Sensibility is a classic example of the comedy of manners, a work in which a social class’s flaws and foibles are cleverly examined and satirized.
(Passage adapted from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, (1811))
Example Question #19 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
Outside Dorlcote Mill
A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace. On this mighty tide the black ships, laden with the fresh-scented fir-planks, with rounded sacks of oil-bearing seed, or with the dark glitter of coal, are borne along to the town of St. Ogg’s, which shows its aged, fluted red roofs and the broad gables of its wharves between the low wooded hill and the river brink, tinging the water with a soft purple hue under the transient glance of this February sun. Far away on each hand stretch the rich pastures and the patches of dark earth, made ready for the seed of broad-leaved green crops, or touched already with the tint of the tender-bladed autumn-sown corn.
What is this novel?
Madame Bovary
The Mill on the Floss
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Silas Marner
Howards End
The Mill on the Floss
These are the opening lines of the 1860 novel The Mill on the Floss.
Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) is by Thomas Hardy, Madame Bovary (1856) is by Gustave Flaubert, Howards End (1910) is by E.M Forster, and Silas Marner (1861) is by George Eliot.
(Passage adapted from The Mill on the Floss, (1860) by George Eliot)
Example Question #20 : Contexts Of British Prose 1660–1925
Outside Dorlcote Mill
A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace. On this mighty tide the black ships, laden with the fresh-scented fir-planks, with rounded sacks of oil-bearing seed, or with the dark glitter of coal, are borne along to the town of St. Ogg’s, which shows its aged, fluted red roofs and the broad gables of its wharves between the low wooded hill and the river brink, tinging the water with a soft purple hue under the transient glance of this February sun. Far away on each hand stretch the rich pastures and the patches of dark earth, made ready for the seed of broad-leaved green crops, or touched already with the tint of the tender-bladed autumn-sown corn.
Who is the author of this novel?
George Gordon, Lord Byron
D.H. Lawrence
Henry Fielding
Wilkie Collins
George Eliot
George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot’s novel, her second of seven.
George Gordon wrote Manfred (1817), Henry Fielding wrote Shamela (1741), D.H. Lawrence wrote Sons and Lovers (1913), and Wilkie Collins wrote No Name (1862).
(Passage adapted from The Mill on the Floss, (1860) by George Eliot)
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
