SAT II Literature : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature

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Example Questions

Example Question #91 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.  

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

(1633)

“Country pleasures” best exemplifies which of the following?

Possible Answers:

Metonymy 

None of these

Pastoral allusion 

Alliteration 

Double entendre

Correct answer:

Double entendre

Explanation:

The term double entendre is derived from French and means, literally, "heard twice." It refers to a play on words that can be heard as having two meanings--usually one of which is sexual. "Country pleasures" refers to both a simpler, more naive pastoral life, but it's also a play on a euphemism for the female anatomy that was commonly used at the time. 

Passage adapted from John Donne's "The Good Morrow" (1633).

Example Question #92 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? 
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? 
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 
If ever any beauty I did see, 
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.  

And now good-morrow to our waking souls, 
Which watch not one another out of fear; 
For love, all love of other sights controls, 
And makes one little room an everywhere. 
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; 
Where can we find two better hemispheres, 
Without sharp north, without declining west? 
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; 
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I 
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

(1633)

Which lines contains the best example of parallelism? 

Possible Answers:

None of these 

“For love, all love of other sights controls, / And makes one little room an everywhere.” 

“Where can we find two better hemispheres,/ Without sharp north, without declining west?” 

"If ever any beauty I did see, / Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee." 

“If our two loves be one, or, thou and I/ Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Correct answer:

“Where can we find two better hemispheres,/ Without sharp north, without declining west?” 

Explanation:

In addition to having a parallel structure of "preposition adjective noun," "without sharp north, without declining west" underscores that parallelism with the repetition of "without" and the fact that both nouns are cardinal directions. 

It might be tempting to choose “Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,/ Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one," for the repetition of the imperative "let." These sentences do not, however, have parallel syntactical structures. 

Passage adapted from John Donne's "The Good Morrow" (1633).

Example Question #93 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? 
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? 
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 
If ever any beauty I did see, 
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.  

And now good-morrow to our waking souls, 
Which watch not one another out of fear; 
For love, all love of other sights controls, 
And makes one little room an everywhere. 
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; 
Where can we find two better hemispheres, 
Without sharp north, without declining west? 
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; 
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I 
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

(1633)

Which of the following contains a double entendre? 

Possible Answers:

"Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone"

"Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die"

None of these

"Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one"

"I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I / Did, till we loved?"

Correct answer:

"Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die"

Explanation:

"Slacken" may refer to flaccidity, and "die" was a common literary euphemism for female orgasm in the Early Modern Period.

Passage adapted from John Donne's "The Good Morrow" (1633).

Example Question #94 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, 
       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, 
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express 
       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: 
5 What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape 
       Of deities or mortals, or of both, 
               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? 
       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? 
9 What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? 
               What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? 
 
11 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 
       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; 
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, 
       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: 
15 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave 
       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; 
               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, 
18 Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; 
       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, 
               For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! 
 
21 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed 
         Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; 
And, happy melodist, unwearied, 
         For ever piping songs for ever new; 
25 More happy love! more happy, happy love! 
         For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, 
                For ever panting, and for ever young; 
28 All breathing human passion far above, 
         That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, 
                A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. 
 
31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice? 
         To what green altar, O mysterious priest, 
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, 
         And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? 
35 What little town by river or sea shore, 
         Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, 
                Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? 
38 And, little town, thy streets for evermore 
         Will silent be; and not a soul to tell 
                Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. 
 
41 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede 
         Of marble men and maidens overwrought, 
With forest branches and the trodden weed; 
         Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought 
45 As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! 
         When old age shall this generation waste, 
                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe 
48 Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 
         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all 
                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
 
(1819)

What poetic device is used throughout the poem?  

Possible Answers:

Apostrophe

Free verse

Onomatopoeia

Allegory

Hyperbole

Correct answer:

Apostrophe

Explanation:

Apostrophe is used throughout the poem. Apostrophe is when the speaker in a literary work addresses, or speaks directly to, something or someone who cannot hear it. This addressee can be an inanimate object (as in this poem, where the speaker addresses a Greek urn), an abstract idea, or an absent person.  

Examples of apostrophe being used in this poem include but are not limited to uses of "Thou" in lines 1, 2, and 47, and "O Attic shape!" (line 41).

Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)

Example Question #95 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, 
       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, 
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express 
       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: 
5 What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape 
       Of deities or mortals, or of both, 
               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? 
       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? 
9 What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? 
               What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? 
 
11 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 
       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; 
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, 
       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: 
15 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave 
       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; 
               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, 
18 Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; 
       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, 
               For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! 
 
21 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed 
         Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; 
And, happy melodist, unwearied, 
         For ever piping songs for ever new; 
25 More happy love! more happy, happy love! 
         For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, 
                For ever panting, and for ever young; 
28 All breathing human passion far above, 
         That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, 
                A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. 
 
31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice? 
         To what green altar, O mysterious priest, 
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, 
         And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? 
35 What little town by river or sea shore, 
         Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, 
                Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? 
38 And, little town, thy streets for evermore 
         Will silent be; and not a soul to tell 
                Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. 
 
41 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede 
         Of marble men and maidens overwrought, 
With forest branches and the trodden weed; 
         Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought 
45 As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! 
         When old age shall this generation waste, 
                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe 
48 Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 
         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all 
                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
 
(1819)

The ends of lines 32 and 34 form an example of ________________.

Possible Answers:

metonymy

true rhyme

internal rhyme

dactyl

slant rhyme

Correct answer:

slant rhyme

Explanation:

The words at the ends of lines 32 and 34--"priest" and "drest," respectively--are an example of a slant rhyme. A slant rhyme consists of two words that sound very similar, but do not actually end in identical sounds.  Here, the consonants in these last syllables match. In both cases, the consonant preceding final the vowel is an "r" and the ending consonant sound is "st." The vowels, however, while similar, are not identical: "priest" has a long "e" sound, but "drest" has a short "e" sound.  

Since the sounds of the final words are similar but do not quite match, this is a slant rhyme.

Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)

Example Question #91 : Sat Subject Test In Literature

1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, 
       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, 
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express 
       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: 
5 What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape 
       Of deities or mortals, or of both, 
               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? 
       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? 
9 What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? 
               What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? 
 
11 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 
       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; 
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, 
       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: 
15 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave 
       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; 
               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, 
18 Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; 
       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, 
               For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! 
 
21 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed 
         Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; 
And, happy melodist, unwearied, 
         For ever piping songs for ever new; 
25 More happy love! more happy, happy love! 
         For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, 
                For ever panting, and for ever young; 
28 All breathing human passion far above, 
         That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, 
                A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. 
 
31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice? 
         To what green altar, O mysterious priest, 
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, 
         And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? 
35 What little town by river or sea shore, 
         Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, 
                Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? 
38 And, little town, thy streets for evermore 
         Will silent be; and not a soul to tell 
                Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. 
 
41 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede 
         Of marble men and maidens overwrought, 
With forest branches and the trodden weed; 
         Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought 
45 As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! 
         When old age shall this generation waste, 
                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe 
48 Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 
         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all 
                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
 
(1819)

In what meter is this poem written?  

Possible Answers:

Iambic tetrameter

Dactylic hexameter

Spondaic pentameter

Dactylic hexameter

Iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter

Trochaic hexameter

Iambic tetrameter

Spondaic pentameter

Trochaic hexameter

Correct answer:

Iambic pentameter

Explanation:

The meter of this poem is iambic pentameter.  The "meter" of a poem refers to the rhythm and quantity of syllables in each line.  

"Pentameter" means that there are five metrical "feet" in each line.  A metrical "foot" is a metrical unit of which any given meter is comprised.  "Iambic" refers to the fact that most of the metrical feet in this poem are iambs.  An iamb is a very common foot in English.  It is comprised of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.  

Here is the first line of the poem divided into its five metrical feet:  "Thou still / unrav / ish'd bride / of qui / etness."  Each of those five segments consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable--that is, an iamb.

Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)

Example Question #91 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, 
       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, 
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express 
       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: 
5 What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape 
       Of deities or mortals, or of both, 
               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? 
       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? 
9 What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? 
               What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? 
 
11 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 
       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; 
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, 
       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: 
15 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave 
       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; 
               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, 
18 Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; 
       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, 
               For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! 
 
21 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed 
         Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; 
And, happy melodist, unwearied, 
         For ever piping songs for ever new; 
25 More happy love! more happy, happy love! 
         For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, 
                For ever panting, and for ever young; 
28 All breathing human passion far above, 
         That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, 
                A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. 
 
31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice? 
         To what green altar, O mysterious priest, 
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, 
         And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? 
35 What little town by river or sea shore, 
         Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, 
                Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? 
38 And, little town, thy streets for evermore 
         Will silent be; and not a soul to tell 
                Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. 
 
41 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede 
         Of marble men and maidens overwrought, 
With forest branches and the trodden weed; 
         Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought 
45 As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! 
         When old age shall this generation waste, 
                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe 
48 Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, 
         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all 
                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
 
(1819)

Lines 8-10 are an example of ______________.

Possible Answers:

metonymy

anaphora

hyperbole

aphorism

motif

Correct answer:

anaphora

Explanation:

In poetry, anaphora refers to a specific type of repetition.  It is the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row.  In lines 8-10, six sentences in a row start with "What."  This is a perfect example of anaphora.

Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)

Example Question #91 : Sat Subject Test In Literature

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) 

The transition between the highlighted lines is best described as __________

Possible Answers:

The vellum 

None of these 

The volta

The rhetorical shift 

The concession 

Correct answer:

The volta

Explanation:

The volta is a turn or shift in sonnet. In this case, Hopkins turns from self-examination and begins to make more broad generalizations about "the lost." 

While this could also be described as a rhetorical shift, the fact that this is a sonnet makes volta a more precise, more accurate term. 

Passage adapted from "[I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day]" (1918) by Gerald Manley Hopkins. 

Example Question #99 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

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) 

"Selfyeast" (line 12) is an example of __________

Possible Answers:

An elision 

A montresor 

A portmanteau

An allision 

None of these 

Correct answer:

A portmanteau

Explanation:

A portmanteau is the blending or combining of two separate words to from a new, invented word. (For example "Bennifer" for Ben Affleck and Jennifer(s) Lopez and, later, Garner.) 

An elision might seem like a tempting answer since it means an omission of some kind, usually of a vowel. In this case, though, the important thing is not the omission of the space, but the combination of the words to form a new idea. The other two answers are made-up words. 

Passage adapted from "[I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day]" (1918) by Gerald Manley Hopkins.

Example Question #100 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

 The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.   
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.   
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,   
And the highwayman came riding— 
         Riding—riding— 
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. 
 
He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,   
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin. 
They fitted with never a wrinkle. His boots were up to the thigh.   
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, 
         His pistol butts a-twinkle, 
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky. 
 
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard. 
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.   
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there   
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter, 
         Bess, the landlord’s daughter, 
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair. 
 
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked 
Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.   
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,   
But he loved the landlord’s daughter, 
         The landlord’s red-lipped daughter. 
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say— 
 
“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night, 
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; 
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,   
Then look for me by moonlight, 
         Watch for me by moonlight, 
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”  
 
(1906) 

The first line of the third stanza provides an example of _________________.

Possible Answers:

Alliteration

Irony

Personification 

Foreshadowing

Imagery

Correct answer:

Alliteration

Explanation:

The first line of the third stanza contains a strong example of alliteration in the repetition of the initial consonant sounds in cobbles, clattered, and clashed. Although the line does invoke the image of the highwayman entering the dark inn-year, it is not a strong image, and the line focuses much more on invoking the sound of him entering the yard, hence the repetition of the hard c, which sounds a bit like horse hooves. The line contains no examples of irony, personification, or foreshadowing.

Passage adapted from Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman" (1906)

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