SAT II Literature : Meaning of Specified Text

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

RAPHAEL
The Sun, in ancient guise, competing 
With brother spheres in rival song, 
With thunder-march, his orb completing, 
Moves his predestin'd course along; 
His aspect to the powers supernal 
Gives strength, though fathom him none may;
Transcending thought, the works eternal 
Are fair as on the primal day. 

GABRIEL
With speed, thought baffling, unabating,
Earth's splendour whirls in circling flight; 
Its Eden-brightness alternating 
With solemn, awe-inspiring night; 
Ocean's broad waves in wild commotion,
Against the rocks' deep base are hurled; 
And with the spheres, both rock and ocean 
Eternally are swiftly whirled.

MICHAEL
And tempests roar in emulation
From sea to land, from land to sea,
And raging form, without cessation,
A chain of wondrous agency,
Full in the thunder's path careering,
Flaring the swift destructions play;
But, Lord, Thy servants are revering
The mild procession of thy day.

(1808)

Which of these terms does not describe an characteristic of nature as described in the passage?

Possible Answers:

The ability to be mysterious to humans

The ability to appear in a different form

The ability to assist the powers of heaven

The ability to move about independently

The ability to outshine other planetary bodies

Correct answer:

The ability to move about independently

Explanation:

Since the sun is moving on a "predestind course," it cannot not choose its own course nor move independently.

Passage adapted from Johann von Goethe's Faust (1808)

Example Question #11 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Caliban: This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how 
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms 
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island. 

 

The lines: "and teach me how/ To name the bigger light, and how the less,/ That burn by day and night" most likely describe ________________.

Possible Answers:

a buried treasure 

Caliban's emotional state 

the sun and the moon 

Caliban's mother

how to build a fire 

Correct answer:

the sun and the moon 

Explanation:

This description of Caliban being taught to name the "bigger light" and "the less" is a description of him learning the names for the sun and the moon. The elaboration that the lights "burn by day and night" should make it clear to students that that is what is being described. Students who do not read closely or struggle with comprehension may choose one of the other answers, but the passage contains no direct evidence to support those answers.

Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611).

Example Question #13 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)

[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]

CYRANO:

  1. Ay, true, the feeling
  2. Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
  3. Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
  4. Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
  5. I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
  6. --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
  7. --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
  8. Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
  9. Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
  10. A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
  11. To understand? So late, dost understand me?
  12. Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
  13. Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
  14. That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
  15. Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
  16. I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
  17. But to die now! Have words of mine the power
  18. To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
  19. Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
  20. You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
  21. Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
  22. Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!

In the context of the passage, the meaning of “so late” (line 11) is most likely ______________.

Possible Answers:

until recently

at long last

in the end

too late

so late at night

Correct answer:

at long last

Explanation:

Here, “so late” means “at long last”. Lines 15-16 tell us that Cyrano has loved Roxane for a long time.
Try plugging the other answer choices into the sentence. When we realize that Cyrano's tone is hopeful, "at long last" is the only choice that makes sense, because it's expressing his hope that his dream may finally be coming true.

Example Question #12 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)

[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]


CYRANO:

  1. Ay, true, the feeling
  2. Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
  3. Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
  4. Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
  5. I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
  6. --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
  7. --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
  8. Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
  9. Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
  10. A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
  11. To understand? So late, dost understand me?
  12. Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
  13. Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
  14. That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
  15. Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
  16. I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
  17. But to die now! Have words of mine the power
  18. To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
  19. Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
  20. You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
  21. Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
  22. Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!

The word “guerdon” (line 16) is best understood as ______________.

Possible Answers:

hubris

treachery

reward

imprisonment

suffering

Correct answer:

reward

Explanation:

“Guerdon” means “reward”. Even if you don’t know the word, you can still home in on the correct answer if you understand that Cyrano is exclaiming about something positive. He’s saying something like, “Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined anything as wonderful as this [guerdon] that I’m getting now!”



The other answer options — “suffering”, “imprisonment”, “hubris”, and “treachery” — are all negative and don’t make sense in the context.

Example Question #15 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)

[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]

CYRANO:

  1. Ay, true, the feeling
  2. Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
  3. Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
  4. Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
  5. I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
  6. --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
  7. --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
  8. Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
  9. Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
  10. A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
  11. To understand? So late, dost understand me?
  12. Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
  13. Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
  14. That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
  15. Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
  16. I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
  17. But to die now! Have words of mine the power
  18. To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
  19. Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
  20. You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
  21. Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
  22. Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!

Cyrano says, “Naught is left me/ But to die now!” (lines 16-17) because _____________.

Possible Answers:

he has reached a moment of supreme happiness

he understands that his death will benefit Roxane

he is in despair because Roxane will never love him

he is approaching old age.

the intensity of his love is killing him.

Correct answer:

he has reached a moment of supreme happiness

Explanation:

Lines 13-16 reveal that Cyrano has reached a moment of supreme happiness. He’s exclaiming that he may as well die now because life can’t possibly get better than this.

Looking at the lines immediately preceding, we see that Cyrano is not despairing or facing literal death. He is talking about his greatest possible joy: the hope that Roxane might hear and understand:

"Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
To understand? So late, dost understand me?
Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?"

Though he said earlier that he would gladly sacrifice his own happiness for Roxane's, there is no clear connection between that image and his ecstatic, "Naught is left me
But to die now!"

Example Question #12 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)

[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]

CYRANO:

  1. Ay, true, the feeling
  2. Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
  3. Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
  4. Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
  5. I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
  6. --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
  7. --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
  8. Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
  9. Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
  10. A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
  11. To understand? So late, dost understand me?
  12. Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
  13. Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
  14. That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
  15. Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
  16. I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
  17. But to die now! Have words of mine the power
  18. To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
  19. Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
  20. You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
  21. Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
  22. Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!

The word “hearken” (line 14) most nearly means __________________.

Possible Answers:

reject

ignore

grieve

listen

beware

Correct answer:

listen

Explanation:

“Hearken” means “listen”.  Even if you don’t know the word, you can still home in on the correct answer if you understand that Cyrano is exclaiming about something that Roxane might do to give him joy. Try plugging in all the answer choices. "Listen" is the only one that makes sense in the context.

Example Question #17 : Meaning Of Specified Text: Drama

Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)

[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.]

CYRANO:

  1. Ay, true, the feeling
  2. Which fills me, terrible and jealous, truly
  3. Love,--which is ever sad amid its transports!
  4. Love,--and yet, strangely, not a selfish passion!
  5. I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down,
  6. --E'en though you never were to know it,--never!
  7. --If but at times I might--far off and lonely,--
  8. Hear some gay echo of the joy I bought you!
  9. Each glance of thine awakes in me a virtue,--
  10. A novel, unknown valor. Dost begin, sweet,
  11. To understand? So late, dost understand me?
  12. Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
  13. Too fair the night! Too fair, too fair the moment!
  14. That I should speak thus, and that you should hearken!
  15. Too fair! In moments when my hopes rose proudest,
  16. I never hoped such guerdon. Naught is left me
  17. But to die now! Have words of mine the power
  18. To make you tremble,--throned there in the branches?
  19. Ay, like a leaf among the leaves, you tremble!
  20. You tremble! For I feel,--an if you will it,
  21. Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
  22. Thrill through the branches, down your sprays of jasmine!

 

The word “mine”(line 5) refers to ____________________.

Possible Answers:

Cyrano’s life

Cyrano’s feeling

Cyrano’s passion

Cyrano’s joy

Cyrano’s rage

Correct answer:

Cyrano’s joy

Explanation:

The word “mine” refers to Cyrano’s own joy. “I for your joy would gladly lay mine own down” means, “I would gladly sacrifice my own joy for yours.”

The archaic syntax of this sentence makes it tricky to parse. The verb is “would lay down”. The subject of that verb (i.e., the doer of the action) is “I”. In modern English, the subject and verb would be right next to each other: “I would lay down . . .” Here, a prepositional phrase — “for your joy” — has been stuck in between. We have to keep reading the end of the sentence to find out what that phrase means, and what it has to do with the verb.

Contrasting words or phrases are usually a big clue to meaning. Here, Cyrano is contrasting his own joy with Roxane’s:

“I for YOUR joy would gladly lay MINE OWN down.”

This is the quickest way to see that “joy” is what the two contrasting elements have in common. Therefore, that’s what they’re both referring to.

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