GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Literary Analysis of British Poetry
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 : Genre, Style, Tone, Mood, And Other Literary Features
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
This poem is a(n) __________.
pastoral poem
conceit
epic poem
sonnet
elegy
elegy
This early-seventeenth-century poem, "On my First Son," by the Englishman, Ben Jonson, is an elegy, as it commemorates a dead person.
Example Question #1 : Context, Speaker, And Addressee
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
Who is the speaker of this poem?
The grieving father and poet, Ben Jonson
A sorrowful playmate of the deceased
A friend of Ben Jonson
The speaker cannot be determined
An anonymous grieving father
The grieving father and poet, Ben Jonson
The speaker of this poem is the grieving father and poet, Ben Jonson. "Here doth lie / Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry," (Lines 9–10)
Example Question #1 : Effect Of Specified Text
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
"Seven years thou wert lent to me," (line 3), very likely tells the reader what?
The years since the child's death
The age of the son at his death
The years the speaker was absent from the child's life
The length of time the child suffered
The time period wherein the speaker will mourn
The age of the son at his death
"Seven years thou wert lent to me," (line 3), very likely tells the reader the age of the son at his death. In the same line, "I thee pay" inclines the reader to believe that after seven years, the speaker had to relinquish his son.
Example Question #1 : Figurative Language: Poetry
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
In which line is there a strong lending metaphor?
As what he loves may never like too much." (Line 12)
To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage, (Line 7)
Oh, could I lose all father now! For why (Line 5)
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, (Line 3)
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. (Line 2)
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, (Line 3)
"Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay," (Line 3), is a strong metaphor in which the speaker seems to believe he has entered into a contract with God, and God has come to collect his payment. The metaphor is the son being compared to a loan.
Example Question #1 : Effect Of Specified Text
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
In which of the following lines might it be said that the speaker speaks favorably about his son's death?
Will man lament the state he should envy? (Line 6)
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. (Line 2)
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; (Line 1)
As what he loves may never like too much." (Line 12)
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, (Line 3)
Will man lament the state he should envy? (Line 6)
"Will man lament the state he should envy?" (Line 6) indicates that the speaker trying to cast in a favorable light his son's death; after all, in death man escapes the "flesh's rage" (Line 7).
Example Question #1 : Sat Subject Test In Literature
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
In lines 9–10, "Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, 'Here doth lie/Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,'" the speaker refers to his dead son as a "piece of poetry." This is an example of __________.
caesura
personification
metaphor
spondee
simile
metaphor
When the speaker refers to his dead son as a "piece of poetry," (Line 10), this is an example of metaphor, a comparison made between two essentially unlike things.
Example Question #1 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Poetry
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
In lines 11–12, "For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such / As what he loves may never like too much," what is the speaker saying about his future vows?
The speaker will learn to love again.
The speaker will be very careful about what he chooses to love as deeply as he has loved his son.
The speaker will love more fully having loved his son.
The speaker will never like another thing.
The speaker will never love as much as he has loved his dead son.
The speaker will never love as much as he has loved his dead son.
In lines 11–12, "For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such / As what he loves may never like too much," the speaker is saying that he will never love as much as he has loved his dead son.
Example Question #1 : Effect Of Specified Text: Poetry
1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
Which line seems to link the speaker's love for his son with the boy's death?
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry, (Line 10)
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. (Line 2)
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, (Line 3)
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. (Line 4)
Oh, could I lose all father now! For why (Line 5)
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. (Line 2)
"My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy," (Line 2), superstitiously links the speaker's love for his son with the boy's death, as if it were a punishment from Heaven.
Example Question #1 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Poetry
Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear
1 Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
2 Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
3 The vacant leaves thy mind’s impr'nt will bear,
4 And of this book this learning mayst thou taste:
5 The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
6 Of mouthèd graves will give thee memory;
7 Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know
8 Time’s thievish progress to eternity.
9 Look what thy memory cannot contain,
10 Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
11 Those children nursed, delivered from thy brain,
12 To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
13 These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
14 Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.
(1609)
To what does “mouthèd graves” (line 6) refer?
Wrinkles
A dial
The past
A cemetery
Blank pages
Wrinkles
“Mouthèd graves” (line 6) refers to the wrinkles mentioned in line 5. The glass (line 5) shows the wrinkles, which look like open graves because wrinkles look like deep cuts into our skin and graves are deep “cuts” into the earth. “Time’s thievish progress to eternity” (line 8) suggests that time goes by and then you die; wrinkles, being a sign of old age, bring you closer to death, so also remind you of death as “mouthèd graves.”
(Passage adapted from "Sonnet 77" by William Shakespeare)
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Poetry
Not marble nor the gilded Monuments
1 Not marble nor the gilded monuments
2 Of princes shall outlive this pow'rful rhyme,
3 But you shall shine more bright in these conténts
4 Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
5 When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
6 And broils root out the work of masonry,
7 Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire, shall burn
8 The living record of your memory.
9 'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity
10 Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
11 Even in the eyes of all posterity
12 That wear this world out to the ending doom.
13 So till the judgment that yourself arise,
14 You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
(1609)
From “You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes” (line 14), who are most likely the lovers?
Mars and other gods or goddesses
Anyone who also loved the speaker’s beloved
Those who read the poem
Princes
Anyone who ever saw the speaker’s beloved
Those who read the poem
The “lovers” from “dwell in lovers’ eyes” (line 14) are those who read the poem. In line 14, the speaker claims that his beloved will “live in this” after their death. “This” (line 14) refers to the poem, as is suggested in “this pow’rful rhyme” (line 2) and “the living record of your memory / ’Gainst death and all oblivious enmity / Shall you pace forth; . . .” (lines 8-10). If the speaker’s beloved lives in the poem, she must also dwell in the eyes of those who read the poem because eyes must be used to read.
(Passage adapted from "Sonnet 55" by William Shakespeare)
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
