GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Cultural and Historical Contexts
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
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Example Questions
Example Question #9 : Contexts Of World Plays
NORA: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. (To the PORTER, taking out her purse.) How much?
PORTER: Sixpence.
NORA: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. (The PORTER thanks her, and goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.) Yes, he is in. (Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
HELMER: (calls out from his room). Is that my little lark twittering out there?
NORA: (busy opening some of the parcels). Yes, it is!
HELMER: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel come home?
NORA: Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
HELMER: Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
The author of this play also wrote all but which of the following plays?
An Enemy of the People
Hedda Gabler
The Wild Duck
The Bear
Peer Gynt
The Bear
The Bear (1888) is a one-act comedy by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov. The Wild Duck (1884), Hedda Gabler (1891), Peer Gynt (1876), and An Enemy of the People (1882) are all written by Henrik Ibsen.
Passage adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879).
Example Question #91 : Contexts Of Plays
NORA: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. (To the PORTER, taking out her purse.) How much?
PORTER: Sixpence.
NORA: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. (The PORTER thanks her, and goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.) Yes, he is in. (Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
HELMER: (calls out from his room). Is that my little lark twittering out there?
NORA: (busy opening some of the parcels). Yes, it is!
HELMER: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel come home?
NORA: Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
HELMER: Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
What country is the author of this play from?
Germany
Prussia
Norway
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Henrik Ibsen was born in Telemark, Norway in 1828. Although he lived most of his adult life in Italy and Germany, Ibsen died in Norway in 1906.
Passage adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879).
Example Question #92 : Contexts Of Plays
NORA: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. (To the PORTER, taking out her purse.) How much?
PORTER: Sixpence.
NORA: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. (The PORTER thanks her, and goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.) Yes, he is in. (Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
HELMER: (calls out from his room). Is that my little lark twittering out there?
NORA: (busy opening some of the parcels). Yes, it is!
HELMER: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel come home?
NORA: Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
HELMER: Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
Which of the following is a character in this play?
Nils Krogstad
Mrs. Sørby
Hedvig Ekdal
Greger Welre
Molvik
Nils Krogstad
Hedvig Ekdal, Mrs. Sørby, Greger Welre, and Molvik are all Ibsen characters, but they all appear in The Wild Duck (1885)and not A Doll’s House. The main characters of A Doll’s House are Nora Helmer, Torvald Helmer, Nils Krogstad, and Christine Linde.
Passage adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879).
Example Question #751 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
NORA: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed. (To the PORTER, taking out her purse.) How much?
PORTER: Sixpence.
NORA: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. (The PORTER thanks her, and goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.) Yes, he is in. (Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.)
HELMER: (calls out from his room). Is that my little lark twittering out there?
NORA: (busy opening some of the parcels). Yes, it is!
HELMER: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel come home?
NORA: Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
HELMER: Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?
Which of the following plays does not feature a similar central theme?
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Marriage Play
A Marriage Proposal
Wilhelm Tell
A Streetcar Named Desire
Wilhelm Tell
Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)and the aptly named Marriage Play (1995), Anton Chekhov’s A Marriage Proposal (1890), and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) all concern stifling romantic relationships and dramatize the social constraints of marriage, as does Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Only Friedrich Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell (1804) does not focus on marriage, instead casting an artistic eye on the life of famous Swiss marksman Wilhelm Tell, and more generally on the Swiss struggle for independence in the 15th Century.
Passage adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879).
Example Question #511 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
Who wrote this play?
J.M. Barrie
Anton Chekhov
Maurice Maeterlinck
Bertolt Brecht
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Anton Chekhov
This passage was adapted from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s The Seagull (1896). The play remains one of the most commonly staged of Chekhov's works.
Example Question #512 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
During what decade was this play written?
1890s
1900s
1880s
1920s
1910s
1890s
This play, Chekhov’s The Seagull, was written in 1895 and premiered in 1896 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Because Chekhov died in 1904, you could narrow down the answer even if you didn’t know the exact dates of the play.
Passage adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1896).
Example Question #513 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
Which of the following was not a contemporary of this playwright?
Oscar Wilde
Henrik Ibsen
Nikolai Gogol
Bertolt Brecht
Alexandre Dumas
Bertolt Brecht
All of these playwrights except Bertolt Brecht were alive and writing during the middle and end of the 19th century. Brecht was not born until 1898, and he didn’t begin publishing until the late 1910s/early 1920s, over ten years after Chekhov's death.
Passage adapted from Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (1896).
Example Question #514 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
Which of the following is not a character in this play?
Nina Zarechnaya
Konstantin Tréplev
Irina Arkadina
Zverkov
Boris Trigorin
Zverkov
Boris Trigorin, Nina Zarechnaya, Irina Arkadina, and Konstantin Tréplev are the four primary characters in The Seagull. Zverkov, on the other hand, is an important character from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella Notes from Underground (1864).
Passage adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1896).
Example Question #515 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
Which of the following was not also written by this playwright?
Uncle Vanya
Three Sisters
“The Overcoat”
The Cherry Orchard
“The Lady With the Dog”
“The Overcoat”
Uncle Vanya (1898), Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904) are all plays by Chekhov, and “The Lady With the Dog” (1899) is one of his most famous short stories. “The Overcoat” (1842) is a short story by Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
Passage adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1896).
Example Question #516 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
ARKADINA (From inside the house): Boris! Boris!
TRIGORIN: She is calling me, probably to come and pack, but I don't want to leave this place. (His eyes rest on the lake) What a blessing such beauty is!
NINA: Do you see that house there, on the far shore?
TRIGORIN: Yes.
NINA: That was my dead mother's home. I was born there, and have lived all my life beside this lake. I know every little island in it.
TRIGORIN: This is a beautiful place to live. (He catches sight of the dead seagull) What is that?
NINA: A gull. Constantine shot it.
TRIGORIN: What a lovely bird! Really, I can't bear to go away. Can't you persuade Irina to stay? (He writes something in his notebook.)
All but which of the following authors worked in the same non-literary profession as this playwright?
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Ernest Hemingway
William Carlos Williams
William Somerset Maugham
Ernest Hemingway
This question requires you to recognize that Anton Chekhov was a practicing medical doctor for much of his literary career. Other authors who were doctors (and whose works sometimes drew on their medical experience) include William Carlos Williams, William Somerset Maugham, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. While Ernest Hemingway worked as an ambulance driver during World War I, he was not medically trained.
Passage adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1896).
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