All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #21 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
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!
In context, the word “text” (line 15) most likely suggests ________________.
a meandering conversation
a Biblical exhortation
a startling command
an educational tract
a repetitive quarrel
a Biblical exhortation
Looking at the complete thought that includes the word "text" (lines 14-16), we see that the speaker is questioning the dead, whose relentless silent presence seems to repeat a message that she's sick of hearing: "Lie still/ And rest; be patient and lie still and rest.” This has nothing to do with textbooks ("educational tracts".) The message is repetitive, but it is not a quarrel or a conversation. It is a command, but we know it isn't startling because the speaker tells us that she's heard it so many times before that it's "weary in [her] ears".
The correct answer is "a Biblical exhortation", where "text" means a small passage from the Bible on which a minister bases a sermon. "Lie still/ And rest; be patient and lie still and rest" is a sermon that the speaker hears continually from someone in authority, and now she seems to be hearing it again from the silent dead.
Example Question #21 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
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!
In context, the meaning of the word “dumb” (line 14) is closest to ________________.
stupid
ignorant
speechless
repetitive
cacophonous
speechless
The poem says nothing about the dead being stupid, ignorant, or cacophonous. Their "dumb presence" seems to "iterate" (repeat) a certain message over and over, but it's that message that is repetitive: not their presence. The correct answer is "speechless".
Even if you didn't know this meaning of "dumb", you could home in on the correct answer through the process of elimination. (The tricky part would be to resist the temptation to choose "stupid" as your answer. If you see that the poem says nothing about stupidity, that would be a big clue that this question is looking for a secondary or tertiary meaning of the word "dumb".)
Example Question #23 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,
Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude, 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled.
But midst the crowd, the hurry, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel and to possess,
And roam alone, the world's tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless;
Minions of splendour shrinking from distress!
None that, with kindred consciousness endued,
If we were not, would seem to smile the less
Of all the flattered, followed, sought and sued;
This is to be alone; this, this is solitude!
As used in the passage, "shrinking" most nearly means to ________________.
embrace enthusiastically
back away
reduce in size
become immobile
shake violently
back away
Since the "minions of splendour" are dealing with "distress", we can safely assume that there reaction would as to something negative. The word, "from" also makes the choices "shake violently" and "reduce in size" awkward and idiomatically incorrect. It is logical to assume that one would "back away" from distress.
Passage adapted from George Gordon (Lord Byron)'s "Solitude" (1813)
Example Question #24 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
Based on context, what does "drest" (line 34) mean?
Beaten
Decorated
Painted
Prepared for eating
Sewn
Decorated
"Drest" is an archaic form of "dressed." Aside from this similarity, it is clear that the verb "drest" is referring to the covering of the cow's flanks with garlands. "Decorated" is the answer that most corresponds with this context clue.
Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)
Example Question #21 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
Based on context, what does the word "cloy'd" (line 29) most likely mean?
Content
Uncomfortable
Pastoral
Classical
Transcendant
Uncomfortable
"Cloyed" means sated to the point of discomfort, over-full. A good guess here is the idea of being "uncomfortable." This is able to be determined from the following context: it is included in a list of other descriptors that denote some sort of discomfort--"high-sorrowful" (line 29), "burning forehead" (line 30), and "parching tongue" (line 30).
Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)
Example Question #21 : Overall Language Or Specific Words, Phrases, Or Sentences
I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light's delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.
I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.
(1918)
In this context, "gall" (line 9) most likely refers to: __________.
impudence
audacity
bile
None of these
venom
bile
One definition of "gall" means, literally, what is in the gall bladder: aka bile. While all the other options are also definitions of "gall," the use of "heartburn" later in the line is a tip-off that Hopkins is using bodily metaphors in this context.
Passage adapted from "[I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day]" (1918) by Gerald Manley Hopkins.
Example Question #26 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
Passage adapted from the Prologue of Piers Plowman by William Langland (1390)
With that there ran a rout of rats at once,
And small mice with them · more than thousand,
And came to a council · for their common profit;
For a cat from the Court · came when he liked
And o'er leaped them lightly · and caught them at will,
Played with them perilously · and pushed them about.
`For dread of divers dangers · we dare not look about;
If we grumble at his game · he will attack us all,
Scratch us or clutch us · and in his claws hold us,
So that we loathe life · ere he lets us go.
Could we with any wit · his will withstand
We might be lords above him · and live at our ease.'
In this passage, the word "rout" most closely means ___________________.
parliament
few
mob
subset
parade
mob
In the passage, we see that the "rout of rats" is "more than a thousand," which indicated that "few" and "subset" are incorrect choices. The rats and mice "came to a council," but there is nothing to indicate that they are a formal parliament, or that they make up a parade. Thus, "mob" is the best answer.
Example Question #27 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
Passage adapted from the Prologue of Piers Plowman by William Langland (1390)
With that there ran a rout of rats at once,
And small mice with them · more than thousand,
And came to a council · for their common profit;
For a cat from the Court · came when he liked
And o'er leaped them lightly · and caught them at will,
Played with them perilously · and pushed them about.
`For dread of divers dangers · we dare not look about;
If we grumble at his game · he will attack us all,
Scratch us or clutch us · and in his claws hold us,
So that we loathe life · ere he lets us go.
Could we with any wit · his will withstand
We might be lords above him · and live at our ease.'
In this passage, the word "loathe" most closely means ________________.
dislike
love
desire
detest
fear
detest
The rats and mice are terrorized by the cat. They are in "dread of divers dangers." This eliminates "desire" and "love." "Fear" is incorrect because the rats and mice "dread," or fear, danger, not life. "Dislike" and "detest" are similar, but "detest" indicates a stronger emotion, appropriate for the situation. Thus, "detest" is the best answer.
Example Question #22 : Overall Language Or Specific Words, Phrases, Or Sentences
Passage adapted from the Prologue of Piers Plowman by William Langland (1390)
With that there ran a rout of rats at once,
And small mice with them · more than thousand,
And came to a council · for their common profit;
For a cat from the Court · came when he liked
And o'er leaped them lightly · and caught them at will,
Played with them perilously · and pushed them about.
`For dread of divers dangers · we dare not look about;
If we grumble at his game · he will attack us all,
Scratch us or clutch us · and in his claws hold us,
So that we loathe life · ere he lets us go.
Could we with any wit · his will withstand
We might be lords above him · and live at our ease.'
Based on the rest of the passage, what does the word "perilously" mean?
Angrily
Playfully
Safely
Dangerously
Joyfully
Dangerously
We see later in the passage that the rats and mice are "dread of divers dangers." The cat attacks the rats and mice by scratching and clawing them. They are in danger thanks to the cat. Thus, "dangerously" is the correct answer.
Example Question #22 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry
Based on context, what is "fold" most likely referring to in line 1?
A gap in the ranks of soldiers
A flock of sheep
A crease in paper
A stream
A fold in fabric
A flock of sheep
The "fold" mentioned in line 1 is a word used to refer to a flock of sheep. This is discernible from context because the image described in line 1 is that of a wolf attacking other animals. "Fold" referring to sheep is therefore the likeliest choice given here.
While the wolf attacking the sheep is presented as a simile for one army attacking another, the word "fold" still refers specifically to sheep within that simile, and there is, furthermore, nothing to suggest that the "wolf" is attacking a "gap" in the soldiery.
Passage adapted from Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib" (1815)
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