All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #71 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Which of the following is an important prose work by this poet?
Tradition and the Individual Talent
The Defense of Poesy
Essays in Criticism
Anatomy of Criticism
The Anxiety of Influence
Essays in Criticism
The Defense of Poesy (1595) is by Sir Philip Sidney, Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919) is by T.S. Eliot, The Anxiety of Influence (1973) is by Harold Bloom, Anatomy of Criticism (1957) is by Northrop Frye, and Essays in Criticism (1865) is by Matthew Arnold. These are all works of criticism or critical theory.
Passage adapted from Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (1867).
Example Question #72 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
A late Romantic, this poet is also sometimes described as an early member of which literary movement?
Symbolism
Modernism
Surrealism
Realism
Imagism
Modernism
Poems such as “Dover Beach” contain elements of early Modernism, signaling a departure from the Romantic and Victorian sensibilities of the time.
Passage adapted from Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (1867).
Example Question #73 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Who is the author of this work?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
George Gordon
Robert Browning
Christina Rossetti
John Keats
George Gordon
This is the beginning of “She Walks in Beauty,” (1813) is a poem by George Gordon (A.K.A Lord Byron).
Robert Browning wrote Sordello (1840), Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote A Essay on Mind, with Other Poems (1826), John Keats wrote "O Solitude" (1816), and Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market (1862).
Example Question #74 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
What is the other name of the author of this work?
C.S. Lewis
Lord Byron
George Eliot
“Man Without a Spleen”
Lord Tennyson
Lord Byron
George Gordon was commonly known by his baronial title: Lord Byron.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Poems (1842), George Eliot wrote Middlemarch (1874), and C.S. Lewis wrote The Pilgrim's Regress (1933).
Passage adapted from “She Walks in Beauty” (1813) by George Gordon.
Example Question #75 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Which of the following is not another work by this poet?
Manfred
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The Bride of Abydos
Don Juan
“My Last Duchess”
“My Last Duchess”
“My Last Duchess” is a poem by the English poet Robert Browning.
Don Juan was published in 1819, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage was published in 1812, The Bride of Abydos was published in 1814, and Manfred was published in 1817.
Passage adapted from “She Walks in Beauty” (1813) by George Gordon.
Example Question #76 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
When was this work published?
1840s
1850s
1830s
1810s
1820s
1810s
This poem was published in 1814. You could have narrowed down the choices if you knew that Lord Byron lived from 1788 to 1824.
Passage adapted from “She Walks in Beauty” (1813) by George Gordon.
Example Question #77 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
During what historical era was this poem published?
American Revolutionary
Gilded Age
Victorian
French Revolutionary
fin de siècle
Victorian
“The Lady of Shalott” was published in England in two versions: the first in 1833 and the second in 1842. Both dates situate this poem within the beginning of the Victorian era.
Passage adapted from "The Lady of Shalott," first published in Poems by Alfred Tennyson (1833).
Example Question #78 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Which of the following words best describes this stanza of the poem?
Pastoral
Paean
Panegyric
Picaresque
Parodic
Pastoral
The first several stanzas of “The Lady of Shalott” are pastoral; that is, they describe an idyllic country scene with great detail and vivid nature imagery. There are few things more pastoral than the idea of "long fields of barley and rye,/ that clothe the world and meet the sky."
Passage adapted from "The Lady of Shalott," first published in Poems by Alfred Tennyson (1833).
Example Question #79 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Who is the author of this poem?
William Wordsworth
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
John Keats
George Gordon
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
This is the full text of “Ozymandias,” one of the most famous poems by the English author Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Poems (1833), George Gordon wrote Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812), John Keats wrote "Sleep and Poetry" (1816), and William Wordsworth co-wrote The Lyrical Ballads (1798)
Passage adapted from "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818).
Example Question #67 : Contexts Of British Poetry 1660–1925
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Which of the following is not a work by this poet?
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
Adonais
Queen Mab
“Ode to the West Wind”
“Love’s Philosophy”
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
Queen Mab (1813), Adonais (1821), “Love’s Philosophy” (1820), and “Ode to the West Wind” (1820) are all by Percy Bysshe Shelley. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is an 1807 poem by William Wordsworth.
Passage adapted from "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818).
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