GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Literary Analysis of 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 : Effect Of Specified Text
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Which of the following excerpts represents for the poet God's more gentle, yet insufficient, manifestations of love?
"o'erthrow me" (line 3)
"Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new." (line 4)
"for you/As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;" (line 1 & 2)
"imprison me" (line 12)
"Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again," (line 11)
"for you/As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;" (line 1 & 2)
For the poet, God's "as yet" (line 2) knocking, shining, breathing, and mending are not sufficiently extreme to "Batter" (line 1) his heart, as a battering ram would.
Example Question #1 : Figurative Language
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The major extended metaphor of the sonnet is the poet representing himself as .
an unwilling bride
an exhausted laborer
a prisoner
a viceroy
a captured city
a captured city
The major extended metaphor of the sonnet is the poet representing himself as a captured city, as he is "like an usurp'd town" (line 5), until the typical sonnet turn in line 9.
Example Question #1 : Other Content Analysis Questions: Poetry
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The metaphysical conceit of the "usurp'd town" (line 5) turns at line 9 to .
the metaphor of the knot
the metaphor of an imprisoned criminal
the metaphor of an already engaged lover
the metaphor of the "three-person'd God" (line 1)
the metaphor of the chaste lover
the metaphor of an already engaged lover
The metaphysical conceit of the "usurp'd town" (line 5) turns at line 9 to the metaphor of an already engaged lover "betroth'd unto your enemy" (line 10). A metaphysical conceit is simply an extended metaphor with rather complex logic.
Example Question #61 : Literary Analysis
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Throughout the poem, the poet seemingly demonstrates his interest in combining __________.
his fear of God with his love of God
spirituality with governance
love of the sacred and love of the earthly
his reason with his lack of sentiment
violence with erotic love
love of the sacred and love of the earthly
Throughout the poem, the poet seemingly demonstrates his interest in combining love of the sacred and love of the earthly, as he petitions God "Take me to you, imprison me, for I,/ Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,/ Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me" (line 12 - 14).
Example Question #2 : Literary Analysis Of British Poetry To 1660
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The only example of alliteration throughout this sonnet is .
"Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me." (line 14)
"break, blow, burn," (line 4)
"like an usurp'd town" (line 5)
"Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again," (line 11)
"Batter my heart, three-person'd God;" (line 1)
"break, blow, burn," (line 4)
"break, blow, burn," (line 4) is the only example of alliteration throughout this sonnet, as each word has the same sound at its beginning.
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Poetry
Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)
1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2 As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The "enemy" of line 10 is very probably .
reason
chastity
the church
the devil
the government
the devil
As the poet is addressing the Christians' God, the "three-person'd God" (line 1), the "enemy" of line 10 is very likely the devil who would be, according to Christians, the enemy of God.
Example Question #1 : Genre
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This poem is a(n) __________.
sonnet
pastoral
epic
ballad
elegy
sonnet
This poem is a sonnet. Specifically, it is a Shakespearean or an English sonnet, characterized by 14 lines written in iambic pentameter, concluding with a rhyming couplet.
Example Question #61 : Literary Analysis
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
The "eye of heaven" in line 5 very likely represents __________.
the moon
the sun
a comet
the eye of God
the North Star
the sun
The "eye of heaven" in line 5 very likely represents the sun, as it "shines" (line 5) with a "gold complexion" (line 6).
Example Question #1 : Form, Structure, Grammar, And Syntax
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
To what does "this" (line 14) refer?
The speaker's heart
The speaker's beloved
The sun
The speaker's love for his or her beloved
The poem
The poem
"this" in line 14 refers to the poem: the "eternal lines," mentioned earlier in line 12.
Example Question #4 : Effect Of Specified Text: Poetry
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Psalm 23:4 reads, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." The following plays upon this religious imagery:
"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines" (line 5)
"And every fair from fair sometime declines" (line 7)
"And often is his gold complexion dimm’d" (line 6)
"When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st" (line 12)
"Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade" (line 11)
"Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade" (line 11)
"Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade," (line 11) plays upon the imagery of Psalm 23:4, as it refers to death's shade.
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