SAT II Literature : Context-Based Meaning of a Word

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature

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Example Questions

Example Question #31 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry

On thy stupendous summit, rock sublime! 

That o’er the channel reared, half way at sea 
The mariner at early morning hails, 
I would recline; while Fancy should go forth, 
And represent the strange and awful hour                                        5
Of vast concussion; when the Omnipotent 
Stretched forth his arm, and rent the solid hills, 
Bidding the impetuous main flood rush between 
The rifted shores, and from the continent 
Eternally divided this green isle.                                                     10
Imperial lord of the high southern coast! 
From thy projecting head-land I would mark 
Far in the east the shades of night disperse, 
Melting and thinned, as from the dark blue wave 
Emerging, brilliant rays of arrowy light                                            15
Dart from the horizon; when the glorious sun 
Just lifts above it his resplendent orb. 
Advances now, with feathery silver touched, 
The rippling tide of flood; glisten the sands, 
While, inmates of the chalky clefts that scar                                    20
Thy sides precipitous, with shrill harsh cry, 
Their white wings glancing in the level beam, 
The terns, and gulls, and tarrocks, seek their food, 
And thy rough hollows echo to the voice 
Of the gray choughs, and ever restless daws,                                  25
With clamor, not unlike the chiding hounds, 
While the lone shepherd, and his baying dog, 
Drive to thy turfy crest his bleating flock. 
 
The high meridian of the day is past,                                              
And Ocean now, reflecting the calm Heaven,                                  30
Is of cerulean hue; and murmurs low 
The tide of ebb, upon the level sands. 
The sloop, her angular canvas shifting still, 
Catches the light and variable airs                                                 
That but a little crisp the summer sea,                                           35
Dimpling its tranquil surface. 

Based on context clues, tarrocks, choughs, and daws are all _________________.

Possible Answers:

Boats

Dogs

Clouds 

Words invented by the speaker 

Birds

Correct answer:

Birds

Explanation:

We know from the context of the poem that a tarrock has white wings like a gull, and seeks food. The choughs and daws make a "clamor" not unlike the one made by dogs (therefore they cannot be dogs). The only answer that makes sense if all three belong to the same category is that they are all birds.

Passage adapted from Charlotte Smith's "Beach Head" (1807)

Example Question #31 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

  1. One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
  2. But came the waves and washed it away:
  3. Again I wrote it with a second hand,
  4. But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
  5. Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
  6. A mortal thing so to immortalize,
  7. For I myself shall like to this decay,
  8. And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
  9. Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
  10. To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
  11. My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
  12. And in the heavens write your glorious name.
  13. Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
  14. Our love shall live, and later life renew.

In the context of the passage, the word “strand” (line 1) most likely means _________________.

Possible Answers:

The beach

The beloved’s necklace

The poet’s heart

The beloved’s hair

The heavens

Correct answer:

The beach

Explanation:

The strand is the beach, where the poet is writing his lover’s name in the sand.
Lines 2 and 4 tell us that waves are rolling and in receding, washing away what he has written. The poet's writing in the sand will stand in contrast to his poems written on paper, which (he argues correctly) will immortalize his beloved.

Passage adapted from Edmund Spenser's "Sonnet 75" (1594)

Example Question #33 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Poetry

  1. One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
  2. But came the waves and washed it away:
  3. Again I wrote it with a second hand,
  4. But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
  5. Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
  6. A mortal thing so to immortalize,
  7. For I myself shall like to this decay,
  8. And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
  9. Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
  10. To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
  11. My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
  12. And in the heavens write your glorious name.
  13. Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
  14. Our love shall live, and later life renew.

The word “eke” (line 8) means ___________________.

Possible Answers:

Never

Until

Unless

Also

Except

Correct answer:

Also

Explanation:

“Eke” means “also”. If you don't happen to be familiar with this word, you can home in on the correct answer by plugging the other answer choices into the sentence. The beloved is saying that it's hopeless for the poet to write her name in the sand and expect it to stay there, because her written name is mortal, just as she is herself, and her own being and identity will eventually be wiped out by time just as her name has been erased by the waves.

"For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise."

In other words, "I myself will disappear exactly like writing in the sand, and [eek] my name will be forgotten in the same way." The only answer choice that makes sense in the context is "also".

Passage adapted from Edmund Spenser's "Sonnet 75" (1594)

Example Question #31 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

  1. One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
  2. But came the waves and washed it away:
  3. Again I wrote it with a second hand,
  4. But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
  5. Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
  6. A mortal thing so to immortalize,
  7. For I myself shall like to this decay,
  8. And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
  9. Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
  10. To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
  11. My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
  12. And in the heavens write your glorious name.
  13. Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
  14. Our love shall live, and later life renew.

The word “vain” (line 5) is best understood to mean ________________.
I.  Overconfident

II  Arrogant
III Ineffectual

Possible Answers:

I and III only

I only

II only

III only

II and III only

Correct answer:

I and III only

Explanation:

The beloved emphasizes the word “vain” by using it twice: “Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay . . .” She’s saying that the poet himself is vain (“vain man”), and also that his attempts are vain (“that doest in vain assay . . . .”) This is a familiar type of Elizabethan wordplay that uses one word to express two meanings. The poet is vain because he’s overconfident: he keeps writing her name in the sand, despite the fact that the waves will always have the power to wash his efforts away. The writing itself is “in vain” — i.e., ineffectual — because it never lasts for more than a few seconds. She says nothing to suggest that she thinks the poet is arrogant.

Passage adapted from Edmund Spenser's "Sonnet 75" (1594)

Example Question #32 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

1. Better to see your cheek grown hollow,

2. Better to see your temple worn,
3. Than to forget to follow, follow,
4. After the sound of a silver horn.

5. Better to bind your brow with willow
6. And follow, follow until you die,
7. Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
8. Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by.

9. Better to see your cheek grow sallow
10. And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon,
11. Than to forget to hallo, hallo,
12. After the milk-white hounds of the moon.

The word “temple” (line 2) refers to ______________.

Possible Answers:

old age

the magical hunt

a sacred shrine

the side of the forehead

an ancient monument

Correct answer:

the side of the forehead

Explanation:

The author uses the word “temple” to mean “the side of the forehead.” Though the first two lines describe old age, the specific images (hollow cheeks and temples, maybe loss of hair) refer to parts of the body that reveal aging. This is reinforced by the parallel between “temple” and “cheek.”

Passage adapted from Eleanor Wylie's "A Madman's Song" (1921)

Example Question #33 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word

1. Better to see your cheek grown hollow,
2. Better to see your temple worn,
3. Than to forget to follow, follow,
4. After the sound of a silver horn.

5. Better to bind your brow with willow
6. And follow, follow until you die,
7. Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
8. Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by.

9. Better to see your cheek grow sallow
10. And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon,
11. Than to forget to hallo, hallo,
12. After the milk-white hounds of the moon.

In the context of the passage, the word “hallo” (line 11) most likely signifies _________________.

Possible Answers:

the sound made by hunters and hounds

an archaic form of the word “healthy”

another form of the word “hollow”

a variation on the word “halo”

an archaic form of greeting

Correct answer:

the sound made by hunters and hounds

Explanation:

“Hallo” suggests the repetitive cries of human hunters as well as the baying of the hounds. In this context, it is an example of onomatopoesis. (The “view hallo” is the traditional call of the hunter who has spotted a fox.)

Passage adapted from Eleanor Wylie's "A Madman's Song" (1921)

Example Question #1 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Prose

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

From the corner of the divan of Persian saddlebags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters of Tokio who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement, and gave rise to so many strange conjectures.

Based on context, what is a “laburnum” (paragraph 2)?

Possible Answers:

A tree

A dressing gown

A weed

A potion

A trellis

Correct answer:

A tree

Explanation:

In paragraph 2, we see that the laburnum has “honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms” and “tremulous branches,” so we can conclude that it’s a small tree.

Passage adapted from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

Example Question #2 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Prose

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

From the corner of the divan of Persian saddlebags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters of Tokio who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement, and gave rise to so many strange conjectures.

In context, what does “fantastic” most nearly mean (paragraph 2)?

Possible Answers:

Phantasmagoric

Magic

Unbelievable

Unearthly

Excellent

Correct answer:

Unearthly

Explanation:

While all of these words are synonyms for “fantastic,” only one fits the context. It doesn’t make sense that the narrator would describe the birds as unbelievable, since the garden and outside world clearly exists. It also doesn’t make sense that they would be described as phantasmagoric, which means ghostlike, or excellent, since there is nothing particularly ghoulish or great about them. Although magic isn’t a terrible choice, the birds aren’t technically endowed with supernatural powers. That leaves the best choice: unearthly.

Passage adapted from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

Example Question #2 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Prose

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

Based on context, what is “spleen” (paragraph 1)?

Possible Answers:

Irritability

Critics

Winter weather

Glee

Vomit

Correct answer:

Irritability

Explanation:

“Spleen” is an old-fashioned term for anger or irritation. Elsewhere in the passage, we learn that the narrator takes to the sea in order to regulate various negative emotions, so it makes the most sense that spleen would be another of these emotions.

Passage adapted from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, the Whale (1851)

Example Question #3 : Context Based Meaning Of A Word: Prose

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

Based on context, what does “insular” (paragraph 2) mean?

Possible Answers:

Island-like

Crowded

Isolated

Commercial

Foreign

Correct answer:

Island-like

Explanation:

We know that the city is “belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs,” which implies that it is surrounded by water (“wharves” are docks or piers). Based on this fact and on the observation that Melville is discussing Manhattan, one can deduce that “insular” in this context means “having the characteristics of an island.”

Passage adapted from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, the Whale (1851)

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