GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Identification

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 #401 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which of the following Greek comedies concerns a group of women who try to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their husbands and lovers?

Possible Answers:

The Frogs

The Clouds

Lysistrata

Iphigenia

Chiron

Correct answer:

Lysistrata

Explanation:

This play is Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes (the “Father” or “Prince” of ancient comedy). It concerns the eponymous heroine Lysistrata, who rallies the women in their efforts to bring about peace, and serves as commentary on the relationship between men and women in patriarchal ancient Greece.

Example Question #402 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Which classic Greek play genre used pranks, burlesque elements and choruses of inebriated goat-like males (often equipped with phallic props) to portray material from Greek mythology or epic poetry?

Possible Answers:

satyr play

tragicomedy

bacchanalia

satire

comedy

Correct answer:

satyr play

Explanation:

The satyr play is the genre described above. It often appeared as the final play in a four-play cycle of ancient Greek tragedy, of which Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle is a famous example.

Example Question #403 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

The play Antigone, which concerns a Theban legend of civil war and an unsanctified dead body, was written by which of the following Greek dramatists?

Possible Answers:

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Homer

Euripides

Aristophanes

Correct answer:

Sophocles

Explanation:

Antigone was written by Sophocles, who, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, is one of the only ancient Greek dramatists with work surviving today. The play in question contains the familiar Greek character Tiresias, the blind prophet, as well as Creon, the new king of Thebes; the slain brothers Eteocles and Polyneices; and the sisters Antigone and Ismene. In addition to its literary significance, the play achieved political importance by speaking out against despotism and anarchy and by promoting democratic society.

Example Question #404 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English

Several nineteenth-century European plays were based on which famous novel-in-verse of the same name by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin?

Possible Answers:

Crime and Punishment

Eugene Onegin

The Seagull

A Doll’s House

Anna Karenina

Correct answer:

Eugene Onegin

Explanation:

Eugene Onegin, originally written by Alexander Pushkin, concerns the eponymous main character, the fictional poet Vladimir Lensky, the shy but passionate Tatyana, and her vain older sister Olga. The novel’s and subsequent plays’ themes include the relationship between art and life, the absurdity of social conventions such as duels, and the mortality and loneliness of man. 

Example Question #5 : Identification Of World Plays

Which famous nineteenth-century Scandinavian playwright wrote A Doll’s House, The Wild Duck, Peer Gynt, and An Enemy of the People?

Possible Answers:

Henrik Ibsen

Tomas Tranströmer

Halldór Laxness

Friedrich Schiller

Knut Hamsun

Correct answer:

Henrik Ibsen

Explanation:

The listed works are by Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, director, and poet. His work is known for its strict, often bleak realism and for its role in introducing modernism to the theater. Plays such as A Doll’s House criticized social conventions that Ibsen saw as limiting and artificial, particularly marriage, motherhood, and family life.

Example Question #6 : Identification Of World Plays

Which eighteenth-century German poet and playwright was responsible for dramas such as Wilhelm Tell, The Maid of Orleans, The Robbers, and the Wallenstein trilogy?

Possible Answers:

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Henrik Ibsen

Rainer Maria Rilke

Bertolt Brecht

Correct answer:

Friedrich Schiller

Explanation:

Friedrich Schiller, one of the most important playwrights of the 1700s, was known for shepherding in the artistic movement known as Weimar Classicism. He did so with the help of Goethe, a friend and literary rival, and with his own work, which include the lyrics to Beethoven’s famous Ode to Joy.

Example Question #51 : Identification Of Plays

Which four-part operatic masterpiece by the German composer Richard Wagner includes use of ancient Norse sagas, mythical structures, and musical elements such as the leitmotif?

Possible Answers:

The Ring of the Nibelung

The Valkyries

Don Giovanni

Lohengrin

Tristan und Isolde

Correct answer:

The Ring of the Nibelung

Explanation:

The dramatic work in question is the Ring cycle, known in German as Der Ring des Nibelungen. The work’s structure is modeled on the ancient Greek dramas that contained three tragedies and a satyr play, with a full performance lasting more than half a day. Characters include Wotan, Fricka, Freia, Siegmund, Sieglinde, Siegfried, Gunther, and Brünnhilde.

Example Question #52 : Identification Of Plays

Which famous Mozart opera is based on the legend of a seductive, lascivious Italian nobleman and has inspired such writers as Flaubert, Kierkegaard, and George Bernard Shaw?

Possible Answers:

La Bohème

The Marriage of Figaro

Don Giovanni

The Magic Flute

The Barber of Seville

Correct answer:

Don Giovanni

Explanation:

This is Don Giovanni, named after the title character. Don Giovanni (or Don Juan as he is known in legend) seduces and takes advantage of many other characters in the opera before he is confronted with a ghost that kills him and carries him down to hell. This character has served as an archetype and as a common cultural reference for a young male philanderer in literature.

Example Question #1 : Identification Of World Plays After 1925

This Nobel Prize-winning Caribbean poet, author of Omeros and Sea Grapes, also wrote such plays as Dream on Monkey Mountain and The Capeman. Who is it?

Possible Answers:

Aimé Césaire

Wole Solinka

Stanley French

Ama Ata Aidoo

Derek Walcott

Correct answer:

Derek Walcott

Explanation:

This is the St. Lucian poet Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. Walcott often incorporates themes of post-colonialism and national identity as well as mythical and European elements into his writing. 

Example Question #2 : Identification Of World Plays After 1925

This Caribbean writer’s best known play is A Tempest, based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and written with a postcolonial slant. Who is he?

Possible Answers:

Stanley French

Mario Vargas Llosa

Ama Ata Aidoo

Aimé Césaire

Fernando Arrabal

Correct answer:

Aimé Césaire

Explanation:

This is Aimé Césaire, a French-educated native of Martinique and an incipient member of the négritude ideology. His work is often preoccupied with power, colonial rule, and racial identity.

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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