SAT II Literature : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
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Example Questions
Example Question #781 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
A Late Walk
1 When I go up through the mowing field,
2 The headless aftermath,
3 Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
4 Half closes the garden path.
5 And when I come to the garden ground,
6 The whir of sober birds
7 Up from the tangle of withered weeds
8 Is sadder than any words
9 A tree beside the wall stands bare,
10 But a leaf that lingered brown,
11 Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
12 Comes softly rattling down.
13 I end not far from my going forth
14 By picking the faded blue
15 Of the last remaining aster flower
16 To carry again to you.
The following is an example of alliteration:
"lingered brown" (line 10)
"Smooth-laid like thatch" (line 3)
"withered weeds" (line 7)
"sadder than any words" (line 8)
"sober birds" (line 6)
"withered weeds" (line 7)
"Withered weeds" (line 7) is an example of alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words.
Example Question #11 : Sat Subject Test In Literature
1 Go, wiser thou! and in thy scale of sense
2 Weigh thy Opinion against Providence;
3 Call Imperfection what thou fancy'st such,
4 Say, here he gives too little, there too much;
5 Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust,
6 Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust;
7 If Man alone engross not Heav'n's high care,
8 Alone made perfect here, immortal there:
9 Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,
10 Re-judge his justice, be the GOD of GOD!
11 In Pride, in reasoning Pride, our error lies;
12 All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
13 Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,
14 Men would be Angels, Angels would be Gods.
15 Aspiring to be Gods, if Angels fell,
16 Aspiring to be Angels, Men rebel;
17 And who but wishes to invert the laws
18 Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause.
(1734)
Which of the following is an example of a slant rhyme (also called "half rhyme")?
"rod" / "God" (lines 9/10)
"rebel" / "fell" (lines 15/16)
"such" / "much" (lines 3/4)
"lies" / "skies" (lines 11/12)
"abodes" / "gods" (lines 13/14)
"abodes" / "gods" (lines 13/14)
"Abodes" / "gods" (lines 13/14) is an example of a slant rhyme. Slant rhymes are words that come close to rhyming, but are not full rhymes.
(Passage adapted from "An Essay on Man" by Alexander Pope, I.IV.1-18)
Example Question #11 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry
1 O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
2 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
3 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
4 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
5 But O heart! heart! heart!
6 O the bleeding drops of red,
7 Where on the deck my Captain lies,
8 Fallen cold and dead.
(1865)
In which line is the speaker using foreshadowing?
Line 5
Line 1
Line 7
Line 4
Line 4
In lines 3 and 4, the speaker is subtly telling the reader that something undesirable is going to happen ("the port is near . . . the vessel grim and daring"). All of the other lines dictate what is happening in the present, not what is to come.
(Passage adapted from "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman, ln. 1-8, 1865)
Example Question #12 : Literary Terminology Describing Poetry
1 O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
2 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
3 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
4 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
5 But O heart! heart! heart!
6 O the bleeding drops of red,
7 Where on the deck my Captain lies,
8 Fallen cold and dead.
(1865)
What literary technique is used in the first line of the poem?
Allegory
Apostrophe
Metaphor
Allusion
Metonymy
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if that person or thing were alive, present, and able to reply. Here, the speaker is talking to his captain, who is longer alive.
(Passage adapted from "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman, ln. 1-8, 1865)
Example Question #791 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
The literary technique that Bradstreet uses in addressing her book directly as her "offspring" is __________.
synecdoche
None of the other answers are correct.
personification
apostrophe
metonymy
personification
Personification, which imbues an inanimate object with human traits, is the most likely answer. Apostrophe involves the address of a personified object which is not present, but Bradstreet's poem implies that her "offspring" is close by.
Example Question #11 : Sat Subject Test In Literature
“Gear and tackle and trim” (line 6) is an example of a(n) __________, while " "counter, original, spare, strange" (line 7) is an example of a(n) __________.
None of the answers
asyndeton . . . polysyndeton
metonym . . . asyndeton
asyndeton . . . metonym
polysyndeton . . . asyndeton
polysyndeton . . . asyndeton
“Gear and tackle and trim” (line 6) is an example of polysyndeton, while "counter, original, spare, strange" (line 7) is an example of an asyndeton. A polysyndeton is a figure of speech where conjunctions are repeated frequently in a sequence, while an asyndeton is a figure of speech where one or several conjunctions are intentionally left out of the sentence.
(Passage adapted from "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins)
Example Question #41 : Literary Analysis Of British Poetry To 1660
Which of the following literary techniques is used most frequently in this poem?
Simile
Metonym
Alliteration
Metaphor
Personification
Alliteration
Alliteration is used most frequently in the poem. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words. The following are some of the examples of alliteration in the poem:
"Fresh-firecoal . . . finches" (line 4)
"Plotted and pieced . . . plough" (line 5)
"Fold, fallow" (line 5)
"tackle and trim" (line 6)
"spare, strange" (line 7)
"fickle, freckled" (line 8)
"swift, slow; sweet, sour" (line 9)
"adazzle, dim" ("d" sound) (line 9)
"fathers-forrth" (line 10)
(Passage adapted from "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1918))
Example Question #11 : Literary Terminology And Devices
1 Stella, whence doth this new assault arise,
2 A conquer’d, yielden, ransack’d heart to win?
3 Whereto long since through my long batter’d eyes,
4 Whole armies of thy beauties entered in.
5 And there long since, Love thy lieutenant lies,
6 My forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d within:
7 Of conquest, do not these effects suffice,
8 But wilt now war upon thine own begin?
9 With so sweet voice, and by sweet Nature so
10 In sweetest strength, so sweetly skill’d withal,
11 In all sweet stratagems sweet Art can show,
12 That not my soul, which at thy foot did fall
13 Long since, forc’d by thy beams, but stone nor tree
14 By Sense’s privilege, can ‘scape from thee.
Which of the following is an example of alliteration?
“conquer’d, yielden, ransack’d” (line 2)
“But wild now war upon thine own” (line 8)
“Lieutenant lies,” (line 5)
“sweet Nature so” (line 9)
“forces raz’d,” (line 6)
“Lieutenant lies,” (line 5)
“Liutenant lies” (line 5) is an example of alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words.
(Passage adapted from "Astrophil and Stella" by Sir Philip Sydney, XXXVI.1-14 (1591))
Example Question #41 : Literary Analysis Of British Poetry To 1660
1 Stella, whence doth this new assault arise,
2 A conquer’d, yielden, ransack’d heart to win?
3 Whereto long since through my long batter’d eyes,
4 Whole armies of thy beauties entered in.
5 And there long since, Love thy lieutenant lies,
6 My forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d within:
7 Of conquest, do not these effects suffice,
8 But wilt now war upon thine own begin?
9 With so sweet voice, and by sweet Nature so
10 In sweetest strength, so sweetly skill’d withal,
11 In all sweet stratagems sweet Art can show,
12 That not my soul, which at thy foot did fall
13 Long since, forc’d by thy beams, but stone nor tree
14 By Sense’s privilege, can ‘scape from thee.
"Conquer’d, yielden, ransack’d" (line 2) and "my forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d within" (line 6) are examples of __________.
rhyme
polysyndeton
asyndeton
metonymy
hyperbole
asyndeton
"Conquer’d, yielden, ransack’d" (line 2) and "my forces raz’d, thy banners rais’d within" (line 6) are examples of asyndetons. An asyndeton is a figure of speech where one or several conjunctions are intentionally left out of the sentence.
(Passage adapted from "Astrophil and Stella" by Sir Philip Sydney, XXXVI.1-14 (1591))
Example Question #11 : Literary Terminology And Devices
Passage adapted from "To Some Ladies" (1817) by John Keats
What though while the wonders of nature exploring,
I cannot your light, mazy footsteps attend;
Nor listen to accents, that almost adoring,
Bless Cynthia's face, the enthusiast's friend:
(5) Yet over the steep, whence the mountain stream rushes,
With you, kindest friends, in idea I rove;
Mark the clear tumbling crystal, its passionate gushes,
Its spray that the wild flower kindly bedews.
Why linger you so, the wild labyrinth strolling?
(10) Why breathless, unable your bliss to declare?
Ah! you list to the nightingale's tender condoling,
Responsive to sylphs, in the moon beamy air.
'Tis morn, and the flowers with dew are yet drooping,
I see you are treading the verge of the sea:
(15) And now! ah, I see it—you just now are stooping
To pick up the keep-sake intended for me.
If a cherub, on pinions of silver descending,
Had brought me a gem from the fret-work of heaven;
And smiles, with his star-cheering voice sweetly blending,
(20) The blessings of Tighe had melodiously given;
It had not created a warmer emotion
Than the present, fair nymphs, I was blest with from you,
Than the shell, from the bright golden sands of the ocean
Which the emerald waves at your feet gladly threw.
(25) For, indeed, 'tis a sweet and peculiar pleasure,
(And blissful is he who such happiness finds,)
To possess but a span of the hour of leisure,
In elegant, pure, and aerial minds.
Which of the following from the poem is an example of anthropomorphism?
"Why breathless, unable your bliss to declare" (line 10)
"Its spray that the wild flower kindly bedews" (line 8)
"I see you are treading the verge of the sea" (line 14)
"For, indeed, 'tis a sweet and peculiar pleasure" (line 25)
"What though while the wonders of nature exploring" (line 1)
"Its spray that the wild flower kindly bedews" (line 8)
Anthropomorphism involves the giving of human-like traits to non-human entities. The water is described as bedewing the wild flowers "kindly," a human characteristic.
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