GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Identification of Poetry

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 #31 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes— the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

In what decade was this poem first published?

Possible Answers:

1860s

1880s

1870s

1890s

1850s

Correct answer:

1850s

Explanation:

The key word in this question is "first." Whitman first published the poem in 1855, but he edited it and published new versions until his death in 1892. Over nearly four decades, the volume expanded from a dozen poems to more than 400.

Passage adapted from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, ln.1-8 (1855)

Example Question #32 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
 
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
 
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes— the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The author of this poem also wrote which of these poems? 

Possible Answers:

“The Road Not Taken”

“O Captain! My Captain”

“Because I Could Not Stop For Death”

“Burnt Norton”

“Middle Passage”

Correct answer:

“O Captain! My Captain”

Explanation:

“O Captain! My Captain” by Walt Whitman was first published in 1865. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost was first published in 1916. “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” by Emily Dickinson was first published in 1890. “Middle Passage” by Robert Hayden was first published in 1945, and “Burnt Norton” by T.S. Eliot was first published in 1936.

Passage adapted from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, ln.1-8 (1855)

Example Question #33 : Identification Of Poetry

I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
 
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
 
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes— the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

What other famous line appears in a later version of the same poem?

Possible Answers:

"Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink"

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways"

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by"

"Hope is the thing with feathers"

Correct answer:

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."

Explanation:

“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink" is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1834 version),  “Hope is the thing with feathers” is from the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name published in 1891, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by” is from Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" (1916), and  “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnet 43" (1850).

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes" was taken from the 1892 edition of Leaves of Grass. 

Passage adapted from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, ln.1-8 (1855)

Example Question #31 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
 
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.
 
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes— the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

What other poem appears in the same volume as this one?

Possible Answers:

“Paul Revere’s Ride”

“A Choice”

“I Sing the Body Electric”

"I wandered lonely as a cloud"

“The Raven”

Correct answer:

“I Sing the Body Electric”

Explanation:

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe was first published in 1845. “A Choice” by Paul Laurence Dunbar was first published in 1913. "I wandered lonely as a cloud" by William Wordsworth was first published in 1807. “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was first published in 1860.

Passage adapted from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, ln.1-8 (1855) "I Sing the Body Electric" was published in the same volume.

Example Question #35 : Identification Of Poetry

The author of the poem "Sylvia's Death" is __________.

Possible Answers:

Marianne Moore

Adrienne Rich

Ted Hughes

Robert Lowell

Anne Sexton

Correct answer:

Anne Sexton

Explanation:

Anne Sexton's poem "Sylvia's Death" deals with the death of fellow poet Sylvia Plath.

Example Question #21 : Identification Of American Poetry

The author of the poem "We Real Cool" is __________.

Possible Answers:

Gwendolyn Brooks

William Carlos Williams

Langston Hughes

Maya Angelou

Leroi Jones

Correct answer:

Gwendolyn Brooks

Explanation:

The poem is by Gwendolyn Brooks, who was the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize. Brooks experimented with poetic form throughout her career, but her poetry is often concerned with the urban poor of the area of Chicago in which she lived for much of her life. This poem is a favorite of the Lit GRE's and it is extremely short, so you should make it a point to be able to recognize it on first sight.

Example Question #22 : Identification Of American Poetry

Which American poet was known for a playful use of language, a lack of standard orthography, a latent transcendentalism, and titles such as “i carry your heart with me (i carry it in” and “anyone lived in a pretty how town”?

Possible Answers:

e. e. cummings

Allen Ginsberg

William Carlos Williams

Gertrude Stein

Adrienne Rich

Correct answer:

e. e. cummings

Explanation:

The poet described is Edward Estlin Cummings, usually known as e. e. cummings. In addition to his poetry, Cummings was known for his paintings, plays, novels and essays.

Example Question #23 : Identification Of American Poetry

This American poet was heralded as the leader of the Beats and had his epic poem “Howl” subjected to an obscenity trial in the 1950s.

Possible Answers:

William Carlos Williams

Allen Ginsberg

e. e. cummings

Gertrude Stein

Adrienne Rich

Correct answer:

Allen Ginsberg

Explanation:

The poet in question is Allen Ginsberg, a leading figure in the counterculture movement. His most famous work, “Howl,” gave voice to previously unheard minorities and spoke against war, materialism, consumerism, homophobia, and various forms of repression. Its opening lines are frequently quoted, although “Howl” was often censored because of its depictions of homosexual and heterosexual sex acts.

Example Question #24 : Identification Of American Poetry

This poet was known for her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar as well as her collection of poetry, Ariel. Some of her best-known poems include “Daddy,” “Lady Lazarus,” and “Mad Girl’s Love Song.” Who is she?

Possible Answers:

Marianne Moore

Gwendolyn Brooks

Adrienne Rich

Gertrude Stein

Sylvia Plath

Correct answer:

Sylvia Plath

Explanation:

The poet is Sylvia Plath, wife of the British poet Ted Hughes and an important figure in the genre of confessional poetry. Plath’s work is marked by body- and nature-based imagery, depictions of mental illness, and seemingly mundane details from everyday life.

Example Question #25 : Identification Of American Poetry

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is a famous poem by which author?

Possible Answers:

Langston Hughes

William Carlos Williams

Wallace Stevens

Ted Hughes

Gertrude Stein

Correct answer:

Wallace Stevens

Explanation:

The poem, broken into 13 fractured, imagistic sections, was written by American poet Wallace Stevens. Stevens was a leading figure in the American modernist poetry world, and in 1955 he won a Pulitzer for his work. Stevens’ work is marked by a preoccupation with intellectual themes and ideas about human consciousness. Some of his best-known poems include “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” “Anecdote of the Jar,” “The Idea of Order at Key West,” and “Sunday Morning,” as well as “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

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