GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #691 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
CECILY: Uncle Jack would be very much annoyed if he knew you were staying on till next week, at the same hour.
ALGERNON: Oh, I don’t care about Jack. I don’t care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won’t you?
CECILY: You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months.
ALGERNON: For the last three months?
CECILY: Yes, it will be exactly three months on Thursday.
ALGERNON: But how did we become engaged?
CECILY: Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation between myself and Miss Prism. And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive. One feels there must be something in him, after all. I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest.
This play satirizes all of the following except __________.
matrimony
English immigrants
London society
upper-class norms and behaviors
Victorian traditions
English immigrants
The play’s clever storyline follows several English characters through light-hearted deceptions, courtship, and farcical situations caused by their own dishonesty. It is an extended examination of triviality as well as a satire of Victorian London and its upper-class marriage customs. The only topic listed that the play does not touch on is immigration.
(Passage adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde, II.i (1895))
Example Question #692 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
CECILY: Uncle Jack would be very much annoyed if he knew you were staying on till next week, at the same hour.
ALGERNON: Oh, I don’t care about Jack. I don’t care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won’t you?
CECILY: You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months.
ALGERNON: For the last three months?
CECILY: Yes, it will be exactly three months on Thursday.
ALGERNON: But how did we become engaged?
CECILY: Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation between myself and Miss Prism. And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive. One feels there must be something in him, after all. I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest.
This author wrote all of the following works except __________.
Salome
Lady Windermere’s Fan
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Ravenna
Tamburlaine
Tamburlaine
Tamburlaine is a 1590 play by the Elizabeth author Christopher Marlowe. The rest of the works are by Oscar Wilde.
(Passage adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde, II.i (1895))
Example Question #11 : Contexts Of British Plays 1660–1925
CECILY: Uncle Jack would be very much annoyed if he knew you were staying on till next week, at the same hour.
ALGERNON: Oh, I don’t care about Jack. I don’t care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won’t you?
CECILY: You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months.
ALGERNON: For the last three months?
CECILY: Yes, it will be exactly three months on Thursday.
ALGERNON: But how did we become engaged?
CECILY: Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation between myself and Miss Prism. And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive. One feels there must be something in him, after all. I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest.
Although initially successful, this play closed early due to what scandal?
The playwright’s affair with a married woman
The playwright’s imprisonment in debtor’s gaol
The playwright’s homosexuality
The playwright’s public criticism of the Queen of England
The playwright’s contraction of venereal disease
The playwright’s homosexuality
While it received great critical acclaim, The Importance of Being Earnest also led to Wilde’s personal downfall. After the mother of Lord Alfred Douglas (nicknamed “Bosie” and Wilde’s lover) was denied entry to the play, Wilde’s relationship with Bosie became public and led to his imprisonment. As a result of the scandal, the play closed early.
(Passage adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde, II.i (1895))
Example Question #32 : Contexts Of British Plays
CECILY: Uncle Jack would be very much annoyed if he knew you were staying on till next week, at the same hour.
ALGERNON: Oh, I don’t care about Jack. I don’t care for anybody in the whole world but you. I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won’t you?
CECILY: You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months.
ALGERNON: For the last three months?
CECILY: Yes, it will be exactly three months on Thursday.
ALGERNON: But how did we become engaged?
CECILY: Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation between myself and Miss Prism. And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive. One feels there must be something in him, after all. I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest.
Which of the following is not a character in this play?
Willy Loman
Lady Augusta Bracknell
Algy Moncrieff
Gwendolyn Fairfax
Jack Worthing
Willy Loman
Willy Loman is a character from Arthur Miller’s 1949 play Death of a Salesman. All the rest appear in Wilde's play.
(Passage adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde, II.i (1895))
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Plays After 1925
In what decade was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead first performed?
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1940s
1960s
The play was first staged in 1966 in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the Festival Fringe, the world's largest annual arts festival.
Example Question #2 : Contexts Of British Plays After 1925
The author of The Birthday Party also wrote work belonging to all but which of the following genres?
comedy of menace
theater of the absurd
memory plays
morality plays
morality plays
Morality plays were popular during medieval times. Pinter’s work was avant-garde, not antiquated, so we can infer that his work was categorized as comedy of menace, memory plays, and theater of the absurd.
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Plays After 1925
In what decade was Waiting for Godot published?
1970s
1950s
1940s
1930s
1960s
1950s
The play was published in 1953.
Example Question #4 : Contexts Of British Plays After 1925
Who is the author of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966)?
Eugène Ionesco
Eugene O’Neill
Samuel Beckett
Tom Stoppard
Harold Pinter
Tom Stoppard
This play is written by Tom Stoppard.
Example Question #691 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Which of the following is not a character in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead?
Polonius
Gertrude
Fortinbras
Falstaff
Ophelia
Falstaff
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966)shares many of its characters with Hamlet. Only Falstaff is not taken from Hamlet; he is a major character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I (1600).
Example Question #697 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Who wrote The Birthday Party?
Edward Albee
Samuel Beckett
Harold Pinter
Eugène Ionesco
Eugene O’Neill
Harold Pinter
The author is Harold Pinter. The Birthday Party (1958) is one of his most famous plays.
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
