SAT II Literature : Support and Evidence
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
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Example Questions
Example Question #221 : Interpreting The Passage
Passage adapted from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Spring" (1921).
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know. 5
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify? 10
Not only under the ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. 15
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
The idea that "Beauty is not enough," is reinforced throughout the text by __________.
the frequent use of multi-sensory springtime imagery
the pervasive use of apostrophe, which makes the language of the poem more formal
the blunt language of the poem, which eschews the lyricism that is often associated with poetry
the elaborate conceits and florid language of the poem
the use of parable, which indirectly conveys the philosophical message of the poem
the blunt language of the poem, which eschews the lyricism that is often associated with poetry
The idea that "Beauty is not enough," is reinforced through the blunt language of the poem. While poetry is traditionally associated with lyricism (the quality of being artistically beautiful), this poem is written with directness and bluntness, without the intent of seeming overly beautiful or elaborate. This bluntness can be heard in the use of short declarative sentences and the bitter, sarcastic tone.
The use of springtime imagery offers the rare glimpse of what could be considered beautiful imagery in the poem, which would not support the idea that beauty is not enough.
The use of apostrophe (addressing an inanimate object or concept directly, as one would address another person) does elevate the language of the poem. However, this does not support the idea that beauty is not enough, since apostrophe makes the language of the poem more aesthetically pleasing, rather than less so.
The poem does not contain a conceit (an extended metaphor that governs the entire poem) or florid language (overly fancy or flowery speech).
This poem does not contain any parables (short allegorical stories that convey moral or religious lessons).
Example Question #2 : Claims And Argument
Adapted from Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" in Leaves of Grass (1855)
Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.
2
The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,
The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme,
The similitudes of the past and those of the future,
The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on the walk in the street and the passage over the river,
The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away,
The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them,
The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.
Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and small;
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
3
It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not,
I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,
Just as you are refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh’d,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the thick-stemm’d pipes of steamboats, I look’d.
I too many and many a time cross’d the river of old,
Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies,
Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left the rest in strong shadow,
Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south,
Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,
Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams . . .
Which of the following statements would the speaker of the poem most likely agree with?
Experience is intensely personal and informed by one’s own history.
Experiences can be meaningfully shared even if not concurrent.
Conversation is the best way to feel close to another person.
Aesthetic appreciation precludes interpersonal connection.
Connecting with nature is more important than connecting with other people.
Experiences can be meaningfully shared even if not concurrent.
Repeatedly, the speaker expresses his conviction that shared experience connects people across time and distance. This might be most clear in the lines that begin the third stanza: "It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not, / I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence."
Example Question #11 : Claims And Argument
Adapted from "Old Man Traveling" by William Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798 ed.)
The little hedge-row birds,
That peck along the road, regard him not.
He travels on, and in his face, his step,
His gait, is one expression; every limb,
His look and bending figure, all bespeak
A man who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought—He is insensibly subdued
To settled quiet: he is one by whom
All effort seems forgotten, one to whom
Long patience has such mild composure given,
That patience now doth seem a thing, of which
He hath no need. He is by nature led
To peace so perfect, that the young behold
With envy, what the old man hardly feels.
—I asked him whither he was bound, and what
The object of his journey; he replied
"Sir! I am going many miles to take
"A last leave of my son, a mariner,
"Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth,
And there is dying in an hospital."
What does the speaker argue has led to the man's composure?
The long journey he has undertaken
His unerring gait
A long-enduring forbearance
Giving himself to the control of nature
The realization his son may die
A long-enduring forbearance
The speaker states that “[the man] is one by whom / All effort seems forgotten, one to whom / Long patience has such mild composure given,” so we can say it is argued that “long-term patience” has given the man his composure. So if we look for the closest answer to “long-term patience,” we should find that “long-enduring forbearance” is the correct answer, as “forbearance” can mean patient self-control. We can also come to this answer by eliminating the other answers which do not replicate the argument presented in the quoted lines.
Example Question #11 : Support And Evidence: Poetry
I saw thee once—once only—years ago:
I must not say how many—but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, (5)
There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness and slumber,
Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe— (10)
Based on the content of the passage, what has since happened to the addressee?
He or she has grown old and forgetful
He or she has died
He or she fell into an enchanted sleep
He or she was watched by thousands of people
He or she has fallen in love with another person
He or she has died
In lines 4-5, we see an explanation: “A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, / Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven.” In other words, the addressee’s soul has left his or her body. This is a clear euphemism for death.
Passage adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s “To Helen” (1831)
Example Question #12 : Support And Evidence
To the Dead in the Grave-Yard Under My Window
by Adelaide Crapsey (1878 - 1915)
- How can you lie so still? All day I watch
- And never a blade of all the green sod moves
- To show where restlessly you toss and turn,
- And fling a desperate arm or draw up knees
- Stiffened and aching from their long disuse;
- I watch all night and not one ghost comes forth
- To take its freedom of the midnight hour.
- Oh, have you no rebellion in your bones?
- The very worms must scorn you where you lie,
- A pallid mouldering acquiescent folk,
- Meek habitants of unresented graves.
- Why are you there in your straight row on row
- Where I must ever see you from my bed
- That in your mere dumb presence iterate
- The text so weary in my ears: “Lie still
- And rest; be patient and lie still and rest.”
- I’ll not be patient! I will not lie still!
The poem directly addresses all of the following EXCEPT _______________.
disobedience
resentment
old age
the longing for freedom
restlessness
old age
This question is asking you to identify the one answer that is not supported by the text.
The speaker talks about the longing for freedom ("I watch all night and not one ghost comes forth/ To take its freedom of the midnight hour.") She expresses restlessness, resentment, and disobedience ("I’ll not be patient! I will not lie still!")
But though the poem deals with illness and death, it does not mention old age. "Old age" is the correct answer.
Example Question #1 : Support And Evidence: Prose
(1) From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. (2) A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. (3) Some say that the place was bewitched by a High German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. (4) Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. (5) They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. (6) The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.
(1820)
How could the town of Sleepy Hollow best be described?
Vivacious
Opiated
Preternatural
Conscientious
Myopic
Preternatural
Based on the myriad strangenesses described in this passage, we can conclude that Sleepy Hollow is unusual, extraordinary, spooky, and preternatural. Myopic (literally or figuratively nearsighted) and conscientious (careful and diligent) do not fit the description of the town at all. Opiated (drugged) and vivacious (lively) lack textual support as well.
Passage adapted from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820)
Example Question #2 : Support And Evidence: Prose
(1) From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. (2) A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. (3) Some say that the place was bewitched by a High German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. (4) Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. (5) They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. (6) The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.
(1820)
According to the passage, why is the town called Sleepy Hollow?
Its indolent inhabitants
Its soporific aura
Its aggressive denizens
Its soothing atmosphere
Its indigent townspeople
Its soporific aura
Sentence 1 tells us “From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants… this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow.” We know, then, that the name is based on the town’s listless, dreamy, or sleepy (but not explicitly soothing) aura. Its inhabitants themselves are not described as lethargic, though, nor are they aggressive or indigent (impoverished), so we can rule out those choices easily.
Passage adapted from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820)
Example Question #21 : Excerpt Meaning In Context
Passage adapted from “Reconstruction” by Frederick Douglass (1866)
Without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the Union means always in the Union—agreeably to the formula, “Once in grace always in grace”—it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious States stand today, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of Federal authority. Their State governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the Rebellion were forfeited. In reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown States, Congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it.
Let there be no hesitation. It would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous President, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of Congress. These pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by Presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate.
It is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. The people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. They demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious States—where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of Federal soldiers. This horrible business they require shall cease. They want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause Northern industry, Northern capital, and Northern civilization to flow into the South, and make a man from New England as much at home in Carolina as elsewhere in the Republic. No Chinese wall can now be tolerated. The South must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of Congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work.
What is meant by the underlined expression, "Congress should begin with a clean slate"?
The reconstruction should include much social welfare so as to make reparations for past injustices
The reconstruction should destroy everything in the rebellious states so as to have completely clean ground on which to build a new civilization
War criminals should be prosecuted in detail during the reconstruction process
The reconstruction should significantly reconstitute the social order in the formerly rebellious states
The reconstruction should kill all of the former leaders, ensuring a clean beginning to the new government
The reconstruction should significantly reconstitute the social order in the formerly rebellious states
Particularly based on the second paragraph, you can tell Douglass thinks that the reconstruction should not keep the former rebellious governments in tact. The idea is that the reconstruction should create a fresh and new start for those states. This is the idea of a "clean slate." It is like a fresh and erased chalkboard—with nothing of the old order "written" on it.
Example Question #1 : Excerpt Purpose In Context
Adapted from Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (1818)
Shutting the door, [the monster] approached me and said in a smothered voice, "You have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland. I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?"
"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness."
"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!"
"The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your power is arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness, but they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose delight is in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your words will only exasperate my rage."
The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn. Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains—revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict."
"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice. I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable."
"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night."
I started forward and exclaimed, "Villain! Before you sign my death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe."
I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quit the house with precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot across the waters with an arrowy swiftness and was soon lost amidst the waves.
All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears. I burned with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me. Why had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife? But I had suffered him to depart, and he had directed his course towards the mainland. I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed to his insatiate revenge. And then I thought again of his words—"I WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING NIGHT." That, then, was the period fixed for the fulfillment of my destiny. In that hour I should die and at once satisfy and extinguish his malice. The prospect did not move me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears and endless sorrow, when she should find her lover so barbarously snatched from her, tears, the first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.
Why does the monster state the facts found in the underlined selection?
In order to emphasize his servility to Dr. Frankenstein
In order to preach about the inequality of circumstances afforded to monsters in his society
In order to buttress the claim for the justice of his desires
In order to list the many adventures they had together
In order to make quite clear that he has good reason for being exhausted
In order to buttress the claim for the justice of his desires
Out of the whole underlined passage, the clearest clue for this question is found in the monster's remarks, "I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?" He has done much with Dr. Frankenstein, and feels that he should have a bride created for him. (This can be inferred from elsewhere in this passage.) He lists all of the many things that they have done in order to make a claim for the justice of what he desires. Since he has endured all of these things, it is implied to be an injustice to "destroy [his] hopes".
Example Question #4 : Support And Evidence: Prose
(1) The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the speaker’s square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster’s sleeve. (2) The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. (3) The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set. (4) The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. (5) The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside. (6) The speaker’s obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders—nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was—all helped the emphasis.
Why does the author emphasize squareness in this passage?
To create a geometric allegory
To simplify the readers’ impression of the speaker
None of these
To stress the architecture of the speaker’s setting
To characterize the speaker as a joyless character
To characterize the speaker as a joyless character
The repetition of squareness ensures that the reader will not find the character a soft or comforting figure. We also see “square” mentioned in close proximity to other negative traits: “obstinate,” “unaccommodating,” “stubborn,” etc. Therefore, we can deduce that the squareness serves to further describe the character’s joylessness.
Passage adapted from Charles Dickens’s Hard Times (1854)
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