GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : GRE Subject Test: Literature in English

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 #12 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Which of the following poets would not be considered an early or proto-Modernist?

Possible Answers:

Robert Frost

Arthur Rimbaud

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Edgar Allan Poe

Correct answer:

Edgar Allan Poe

Explanation:

Each of the following poets anticipated Modernism with their work: Emily Dickinson, with her experimental punctuation and brevity; Walt Whitman, with his revolutionary portrayals of identity and sexuality and his eschewal of strict meter; Robert Frost, with his clear, precise language and his crisp imagery; and Arthur Rimbaud, for his refusal to romanticize and his use of prose poetry. Poe, however, was a Gothic writer and not a proto-Modernist.

Example Question #13 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

During what decade was Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth published?

Possible Answers:

1970s

1980s

1960s

1990s

2000s

Correct answer:

2000s

Explanation:

Given that this is Adrienne Rich’s penultimate poetry collection, it makes sense that it would have been published near the end of Rich’s life (1929-2012). Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth was published in 2007.

Example Question #114 : Contexts Of Poetry

When was Meditations in an Emergency published?

Possible Answers:

1960s

1940s

1950s

1920s

1930s

Correct answer:

1950s

Explanation:

This collection was first published in 1957.

Example Question #14 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Which of the following is not another work by the author of Helen in Egypt?

Possible Answers:

Red Roses for Bronze

Hippolytus Temporizes

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed

Sea Garden

Hymen

Correct answer:

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed

Explanation:

In addition to Helen in Egypt, H.D. wrote the poetry collections Sea Garden (1916), Hymen (1921), Hippolytus Temporizes (1927), and Red Roses for Bronze (1932). Sword Blades and Poppy Seed is a 1914 collection by the Imagist poet Amy Lowell.

Helen in Egypt (1961) was H.D's last book of poetry.

Example Question #15 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Which of the following labels could not be applied to the work of the author of Helen in Egypt?

Possible Answers:

Feminist

Classicist

Confessional

Avant-garde

Imagist

Correct answer:

Confessional

Explanation:

H.D. was not a confessional poet, as this movement did not emerge until the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her work, however, took inspiration from Classical Greek poetry and was both Imagist and avant-garde. She was also an outspoken feminist, and works such as Helen in Egypt challenged traditional male voices in poetry.

Helen in Egypt (1961) was H.D's last book of poetry.

Example Question #16 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Who is the author of Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth?

Possible Answers:

Adrienne Rich

Sylvia Plath

Amy Lowell

Marianne Moore

Gwendolyn MacEwen

Correct answer:

Adrienne Rich

Explanation:

Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth (2007) is one of Adrienne Rich’s last poetry collections.

Amy Lowell wrote Legends (1921), Sylvia Plath wrote The Bell Jar (1963), Marianne Moore wrote O to Be a Dragon (1959), and Gwendolyn MacEwen wrote The Rising Fire (1963).

Example Question #17 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Which of the following is not another book by the author of Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth?

Possible Answers:

The Dream of a Common Language

The Diamond Cutters, and Other Poems

Diving into the Wreck

The Colossus and Other Poems

An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems

Correct answer:

The Colossus and Other Poems

Explanation:

The Colossus and Other Poems is a 1960 collection by Sylvia Plath. All the rest are works by Adrienne Rich.

An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems was published in 1991, The Diamond Cutters, and Other Poems was published in 1955, Diving into the Wreck was published in 1973, The Dream of a Common Language was published in 1978, and Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth was published in 2007.

Example Question #18 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

What award did the author of Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth infamously decline?

Possible Answers:

The National Medal of Arts

The Pulitzer Prize

The National Book Award

The Nobel Prize

The U.S. Poet Laureate

Correct answer:

The National Medal of Arts

Explanation:

In 1997, Rich declined the National Medal of Arts in order to protest a proposition to cut government funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and other government policies.

Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth was published in 2007.

Example Question #19 : Contexts Of American Poetry After 1925

Who is the author of Meditations in an Emergency?

Possible Answers:

William S. Burroughs

Denis Johnson

John Ashbery

Frank O’Hara

Kenneth Koch

Correct answer:

Frank O’Hara

Explanation:

Meditations in an Emergency (1957) is Frank O’Hara’s third collection. The title is allegedly an allusion to a work by the English poet John Donne.

Kenneth Koch wrote Thank You and Other Poems (1962), John Ashbery wrote Your Name Here (2000), William S. Burroughs wrote Junky (1953), and Denis Jonson wrote Jesus' Son (1992).

Example Question #31 : Contexts Of American Poetry

The author of Meditations in an Emergency was considered an important founder of which literary group?

Possible Answers:

The Factory

The Inklings

The Algonquin Round Table

The Bloomsbury Group

The New York School

Correct answer:

The New York School

Explanation:

Along with Kenneth Koch and John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara was an important member of the New York School and contributed greatly to its surrealist, abstract expressionist, and avant-garde aesthetic.

Meditations in an Emergency was published in 1957.

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

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