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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All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

1 Diagnostic Test 158 Practice Tests Question of the Day Flashcards Learn by Concept

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?

Possible Answers:

Tradition and the Individual Talent

The Defense of Poesy

Essays in Criticism

Anatomy of Criticism

The Anxiety of Influence

Correct answer:

Essays in Criticism

Explanation:

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?  

Possible Answers:

Symbolism

Modernism

Surrealism

Realism

Imagism

Correct answer:

Modernism

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

George Gordon

Robert Browning

Christina Rossetti

John Keats

Correct answer:

George Gordon

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

C.S. Lewis

Lord Byron

George Eliot

“Man Without a Spleen”

Lord Tennyson

Correct answer:

Lord Byron

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

Manfred

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

The Bride of Abydos

Don Juan

“My Last Duchess”

Correct answer:

“My Last Duchess”

Explanation:

“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?

Possible Answers:

1840s

1850s

1830s

1810s

1820s

Correct answer:

1810s

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

American Revolutionary

Gilded Age

Victorian

French Revolutionary

fin de siècle

Correct answer:

Victorian

Explanation:

“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?

Possible Answers:

Pastoral

Paean

Panegyric

Picaresque

Parodic

Correct answer:

Pastoral

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

William Wordsworth

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

John Keats

George Gordon

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Correct answer:

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Explanation:

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?

Possible Answers:

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

Adonais

Queen Mab

“Ode to the West Wind”

“Love’s Philosophy”

Correct answer:

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

Explanation:

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).

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

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