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 #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
When was this poem written?
1500s
1300s
1100s
1200s
1400s
1300s
Chaucer lived from approximately 1340 to 1400, and The Canterbury Tales (1475) is thought to have been written in the late 1300s.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages…
Which of the following is not a feature of the language of this poem?
the incorporation of Norman-French words
fixed word order
gendered nouns
the “great vowel shift”
few inflectional endings
gendered nouns
This poem is written in Middle English, which featured major changes in pronunciation, new vocabulary resulting from increased interaction with the French, the adoption of a fixed word order, and a marked decrease in inflectional endings. Middle English does not feature gendered grammar, however.
Passage adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1475)
Example Question #2 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Who is the author of this poem?
Geoffrey Chaucer
the Pearl Poet
John Donne
William Langland
Piers Plowman
William Langland
These are the first lines of William Langland’s Middle English classic Piers Plowman.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
Example Question #11 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Which of the following is not a feature of this poem?
rhymed verse
Middle English
allegory
passus
alliteration
rhymed verse
Piers Plowman is written in unrhymed alliterative verse, and the whole work functions as an elaborate allegory about medieval Christianity and virtuous living. Much like other poems are separated into stanzas, the verse of Piers Plowman is separated into sections called "passus."
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
Example Question #12 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
When was this poem written?
late 1400s
early 1300s
early 1400s
late 1300s
late 1200s
late 1300s
This poem is believed to have been written between 1370 and 1390, and William Langland is believed to have lived from around the early 1330s to the late 1380s. Obviously, the 1300s were a very long time ago, and it is hard to say exactly when works were published and circulated.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
Example Question #13 : Contexts Of British Poetry To 1660
In a somer seson,
Whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes
As I a sheep weere,
In habite as an heremite
Unholy of werkes,
Wente wide in this world
Wondres to here;
Ac on a May morwenynge
On Malverne hilles
Me bifel a ferly,
Of fairye me thoghte.
Which of the following is not a character in this poem?
Dobest
Dowel
Gawain
Will the Dreamer
Dobet
Gawain
Gawain is a character in another famous Middle English work: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. All the rest are figures in Langland’s Piers Plowman.
Passage adapted from William Langland's Piers Plowman (1370-90?)
Example Question #231 : Identification
The author of this poem was __________.
John Keats
Dante Gabriel Rosetti
Lord Byron
Robert Browning
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley wrote this elegy memorializing John Keats, who had died of tuberculosis in Rome.
Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)
Example Question #1 : Identification Of British Poetry To 1660
This poem is a response to a poem by __________.
Philip Sidney
Christopher Marlowe
Andrew Marvell
William Shakespeare
Sir Walter Raleigh
Christopher Marlowe
Sir Walter Raleigh wrote this poem, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," in 1596 as a response to, and a parody of, Christopher Marlowe's famous pastoral poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." Marlowe's original is one of the best examples of the type of poem that is known as "Pastoral."
Passage adapted from "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh (1596)
Example Question #1 : Identification Of British Poetry To 1660
The knight of the Redcrosse when him he spide,
Spurring so hote with rage dispiteous,
Gan fairely couch his speare, and towards ride:
Soone meete they both, both fell and furious,
That daunted with their forces hideous,
Their steeds do stagger, and amazed stand,
And eke themselves, too rudely rigorous,
Astonied with the stroke of their owne hand
Doe backe rebut, and each to other yeeldeth land.
From which poem is this passage excerpted?
Beowulf
Piers Plowman
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Faerie Queene
The Seafarer
The Faerie Queene
This is The Faerie Queene, written by Edward Spenser in the late sixteenth century. The poem is distinguishable by its nine-line Spenserian stanzas, which follows an ABABBCBCC rhyme scheme, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last in iambic hexameter. This stanza also mentions one of the poem’s main characters, the Redcrosse Knight.
Passage adapted from The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, I.ii.15.1-9 (1590)
Example Question #3 : Identification Of British Poetry To 1660
Which of the following works features the characters Grendel, Wiglaf, Hrothgar, and Breca?
Piers Plowman
The Reeve’s Tale
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Beowulf
Paradiso
Beowulf
These characters are from Beowulf. Grendel is the monster that Beowulf fights to avenge the destruction of Heorot; Wiglaf is a young warrior and follower of Beowulf; Hrothgar is the king of the Danes and lord of Heorot; and Breca is a childhood friend of Beowulf.
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All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
