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 #5 : Identification Of World Prose

A king and queen once upon a time reigned in a country a great way off, where there were in those days fairies. Now this king and queen had plenty of money, and plenty of fine clothes to wear, and plenty of good things to eat and drink, and a coach to ride out in every day: but though they had been married many years they had no children, and this grieved them very much indeed. But one day as the queen was walking by the side of the river, at the bottom of the garden, she saw a poor little fish, that had thrown itself out of the water, and lay gasping and nearly dead on the bank. Then the queen took pity on the little fish, and threw it back again into the river; and before it swam away it lifted its head out of the water and said, 'I know what your wish is, and it shall be fulfilled, in return for your kindness to me—you will soon have a daughter.' What the little fish had foretold soon came to pass; and the queen had a little girl, so very beautiful that the king could not cease looking on it for joy, and said he would hold a great feast and make merry, and show the child to all the land. So he asked his kinsmen, and nobles, and friends, and neighbors. But the queen said, 'I will have the fairies also, that they might be kind and good to our little daughter.' Now there were thirteen fairies in the kingdom; but as the king and queen had only twelve golden dishes for them to eat out of, they were forced to leave one of the fairies without asking her. So twelve fairies came, each with a high red cap on her head, and red shoes with high heels on her feet, and a long white wand in her hand: and after the feast was over they gathered round in a ring and gave all their best gifts to the little princess. One gave her goodness, another beauty, another riches, and so on till she had all that was good in the world.

The above short story excerpt comes from the collected works of which of the following authors?

Possible Answers:

Hans Christian Andersen

Carlo Collodi

Charles Perrault

Aesop

The Brothers Grimm

Correct answer:

The Brothers Grimm

Explanation:

The tale of Briar Rose is one of many stories collected in the famous, macabre fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. The well known “Sleeping Beauty” story is based on this tale.

Passage adapted from German Popular Stories, a translation of Kinder und Haus-Märchen by Wilhelm Grimm and Jacob Grimm (trans. Taylor 1826).

Example Question #1 : Identification Of World Prose Before 1925

SONG I.

Boethius' Complaint

 

Who wrought my studious numbers

Smoothly once in happier days,

Now perforce in tears and sadness

Learn a mournful strain to raise.

. . .

While I was thus mutely pondering within myself, and recording my sorrowful complainings with my pen, it seemed to me that there appeared above my head a woman of a countenance exceeding venerable. Her eyes were bright as fire, and of a more than human keenness; her complexion was lively, her vigor showed no trace of enfeeblement; and yet her years were right full, and she plainly seemed not of our age and time. Her stature was difficult to judge. At one moment it exceeded not the common height, at another her forehead seemed to strike the sky; and whenever she raised her head higher, she began to pierce within the very heavens, and to baffle the eyes of them that looked upon her.

From what work are these lines?

Possible Answers:

The Consolation of Philosophy

The Seafarer

The Chronicle of Julian of Norwich

The Canterbury Tales

Beowulf

Correct answer:

The Consolation of Philosophy

Explanation:

These lines are from Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, widely regarded as one of the most important influences for medieval Christianity. Written in prison at the end of the Classical era, the work features a wide-ranging conversation between Boethius (a Roman philosopher) and Lady Philosophy and is written in mix of prose and verse.

Passage adapted from Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (ed. 1897, trans. James)

Example Question #6 : Identification Of World Prose

Theft is punished by Thy law, O Lord, and the law written in the hearts of men, which iniquity itself effaces not. For what thief will abide a thief? not even a rich thief, one stealing through want. Yet I lusted to thieve, and did it, compelled by no hunger, nor poverty, but through a cloyedness of well-doing, and a pamperedness of iniquity. For I stole that, of which I had enough, and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy what I stole, but joyed in the theft and sin itself. A pear tree there was near our vineyard, laden with fruit, tempting neither for color nor taste. To shake and rob this, some lewd young fellows of us went, late one night (having according to our pestilent custom prolonged our sports in the streets till then), and took huge loads, not for our eating, but to fling to the very hogs, having only tasted them. And this, but to do what we liked only, because it was misliked. Behold my heart, O God, behold my heart, which Thou hadst pity upon in the bottom of the bottomless pit. Now, behold, let my heart tell Thee what it sought there, that I should be gratuitously evil, having no temptation to ill, but the ill itself. It was foul, and I loved it; I loved to perish, I loved mine own fault, not that for which I was faulty, but my fault itself. Foul soul, falling from Thy firmament to utter destruction; not seeking aught through the shame, but the shame itself!

The above lines are from which work?

Possible Answers:

Inferno

The Aeneid

Confessions

Purgatorio

Summa Theologica

Correct answer:

Confessions

Explanation:

This work is Augustine’s Confessions. It was written around the year 400 C.E. and focused on the author’s transgressive youth and slow, painful conversion to Christianity. This passage, in addition to several excerpts about Augustine’s mother Monica, is a particularly well known part of the work.

Adapted from The Confessions of St. Augustine (ed. William G. T. Shedd, 1860)

Example Question #7 : Identification Of World Prose

And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:—Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

I see.

And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?

Yes, he said.

Which ancient Greek writer wrote the above dialogue?

Possible Answers:

Aristotle

Plato

Herodotus

Aeschylus

Homer

Correct answer:

Plato

Explanation:

This is an excerpt from Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave,” part of the Republic. The work is presented as a dialogue between Glaucon and Socrates, and the titular allegory discusses the human process of achieving education and enlightenment. It is a seminal work of writing and a cornerstone of Western philosophy.

Adapted from The Republic by Plato (trans. Jowett)

Example Question #8 : Identification Of World Prose

Those of the Persians who have knowledge of history declare that the Phenicians first began the quarrel. These, they say, came from that which is called the Erythraian Sea to this of ours; and having settled in the land where they continue even now to dwell, set themselves forthwith to make long voyages by sea. And conveying merchandise of Egypt and of Assyria they arrived at other places and also at Argos; now Argos was at that time in all points the first of the States within that land which is now called Hellas;—the Phenicians arrived then at this land of Argos, and began to dispose of their ship's cargo: and on the fifth or sixth day after they had arrived, when their goods had been almost all sold, there came down to the sea a great company of women, and among them the daughter of the king; and her name, as the Hellenes also agree, was Io the daughter of Inachos. These standing near to the stern of the ship were buying of the wares such as pleased them most, when of a sudden the Phenicians, passing the word from one to another, made a rush upon them; and the greater part of the women escaped by flight, but Io and certain others were carried off. So they put them on board their ship, and forthwith departed, sailing away to Egypt.

This passage begins The Histories, a foundational chronicle of Western events, traditions, cultures, and geography. Who is the likely author?

Possible Answers:

Ovid

Homer

Alexander the Great

Herodotus

Hesiod

Correct answer:

Herodotus

Explanation:

The Histories was a seminal work written by Herodotus in the 400s BCE. It records everything from traditions and topography to cultural issues and political conquests in Greece and the Mediterranean region. Herodotus himself was Greek and is sometimes referred to as “The Father of History.”

Adapted from The History of Herodotus (trans. Macaulay, 1904 ed.)

Example Question #381 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of these novels was written by Nobel Prize-winning Trinidadian author V.S. Naipul?

Possible Answers:

A Small Place

Breath, Eyes, Memory

A House for Mr. Biswas

Wide Sargasso Sea

Love in the Time of Cholera

Correct answer:

A House for Mr. Biswas

Explanation:

Published in 1961, A House for Mr. Biswas is one of Naipul’s most famous works and is set in his native Trinidad. Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) is by Jean Rhys; A Small Place (1988) is by Jamaica Kincaid; Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) is by Edwidge Danticat; and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) is by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Example Question #382 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of the following is a novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe?

Possible Answers:

Disgrace

The Conservationist

Half of a Yellow Sun

Things Fall Apart

A House for Mr. Biswas

Correct answer:

Things Fall Apart

Explanation:

This is Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart. The title is taken from the famous W.B. Yeats poem The Second Coming (1919). The plot of Things Fall Apart follows the life (and downfall) of Okonkwo, a local hero and wrestling champion in a small fictional Nigerian community, as his community is slowly hedgmonized by colonial missionary and commercial influence.

V.S Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), J.M Coetzee's Disgrace (1999), Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist (1974), and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) were used as alternative answer choices.

Example Question #383 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of the following is a novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie?

Possible Answers:

White Teeth

The Sheltering Sky

Guerillas

Americanah

The Lowland

Correct answer:

Americanah

Explanation:

This is Adichie’s 2013 novel Americanah, which concerns the life of a young Nigerian woman who immigrates to the United States in order to pursue higher education. The novel investigates race and culture in the United States as well as class, shame, love, and colonialism in Nigeria.

V.S Naipaul's Guerillas (1975), Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland (2013), Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky (1949), and Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000) were used as alternative answer choices.

Example Question #384 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of the following is NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel?

Possible Answers:

The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

We Need New Names

Arrow of God

Cutting for Stone

Half of a Yellow Sun

Correct answer:

We Need New Names

Explanation:

This is We Need New Names, published in 2013 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel tells the coming-of-age story of a young Zimbabwean immigrant living in the Midwestern United States. Cutting for Stone (2009) is by Abraham Verghese, Arrow of God (1964) is by Chinua Achebe, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) is by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) is by Ayi Kwei Armah.

Example Question #385 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of the following is the title of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about her childhood in Iran during Islamic Revolution?

Possible Answers:

Akira

Persepolis

Ghost World

From Hell

Maus

Correct answer:

Persepolis

Explanation:

While all of these titles are graphic novels, only Persepolis was written by Satrapi. The book is an autobiographical graphic novel and portrays the Iran-Iraq War, Islam, gender roles, and cultural identities in Iran.

Daniel Clowes' Ghost World (1997), Alan Moore's From Hell (1989), Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1982), and Art Spiegelman's Maus (1991) were used as alternative answer choices.

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

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