SAT II Literature : SAT Subject Test in Literature
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Poetry
1 'So careful of the type?' but no.
2 From scarped cliff and quarried stone
3 She cries, `A thousand types are gone:
4 I care for nothing, all shall go.
5 'Thou makest thine appeal to me:
6 I bring to life, I bring to death:
7 The spirit does but mean the breath:
8 I know no more.' And he, shall he,
9 Man, her last work, who seem'd so fair,
10 Such splendid purpose in his eyes,
11 Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies,
12 Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,
13 Who trusted God was love indeed
14 And love Creation's final law—
15 Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
16 With ravine, shriek'd against his creed—
17 Who loved, who suffer'd countless ills,
18 Who battled for the True, the Just,
19 Be blown about the desert dust,
20 Or seal'd within the iron hills?
21 No more? A monster then, a dream,
22 A discord. Dragons of the prime,
23 That tare each other in their slime,
24 Were mellow music match'd with him.
25 O life as futile, then, as frail!
26 O for thy voice to soothe and bless!
27 What hope of answer, or redress?
28 Behind the veil, behind the veil.
(1849)
In “I bring to life, I bring to death” (line 6), who is “I”?
The poet's beloved
God
The poet's friend
Nature
The poet
Nature
In “I bring to life, I bring to death” (line 6), the "I" is Nature. Various lines in the poem support that the "I" is Nature. From line 3, the poet writes that "she cries" (line three), and the following six lines (lines 3-8) are in quotations, showing that "she" (line 3) says, "A thousand types are gone: / I care for nothing, all shall go. / 'Thou makest thine appeal to me: / I bring to life, I bring to death: / The spirit does but mean the breath: / I know no more.'" (lines 3-8). Line 15 also supports that Nature is the "she" from line 3. "Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw" (line 15) shows Nature as ruthless, as did lines 3-8 when Nature proclaims to not care about the types, or species, that are gone.
(Passage adapted from "In Memorium A. H. H." by Alfred Lord Tennyson, LVI.1-28)
Example Question #21 : Literary Analysis Of Poetry
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
The first two lines of this poem imply all but which of the following?
Bradstreet intended to publish her book immediately after writing it.
None of the other answers are correct.
Bradstreet felt that her book was somehow inferior.
Bradstreet felt that her writing was not strong.
Bradstreet kept her book from being seen by most.
Bradstreet intended to publish her book immediately after writing it.
The first two lines imply that Bradstreet feels her book (the "offspring") is "ill-formed" and the product of a "feeble mind," which indicates she did not think her writing was strong and did not want it seen by anyone else. The fact that it remained "by her side" after she wrote it indicates that she had no plans to publish it.
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Poetry
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
The third and fourth lines of the poem imply all but which of the following?
The book was published with Bradstreet's knowledge.
Bradstreet felt that her friends had erred in publishing the book.
None of the other answers are correct.
The book was published overseas and not in her own country.
The book was published by friends of Bradstreet.
The book was published with Bradstreet's knowledge.
Nothing in these lines indicates that Bradstreet had any knowledge that her friends were publishing her book "abroad," and the fact that she charaterizes them as "less wise than true" indicates that she found their actions unwise and deceitful.
Example Question #1 : Inferences: Poetry
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
Lines 11–14 imply all but which of the following?
Bradstreet felt she corrected the errors in the original book.
None of the other answers are correct.
Bradstreet felt her revisions created new problems in addition to solving old ones.
The more Bradstreet revised the book, the more new errors she saw.
Bradstreet felt the need to revise the book since it bore her name.
Bradstreet felt she corrected the errors in the original book.
These lines indicate that Bradstreet did not feel her revisions improved the book, which she saw as hers and therefore necessary to revise. The fact that she says she saw more "spots" after "wash[ing its] face" indicates that she both found more errors and that she felt her revisions made the poems worse somehow.
Example Question #24 : Literary Analysis Of Poetry
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
In the lines "In better dress to trim thee was my mind, / But nought save homespun cloth i' th' house I find," Bradstreet is using the image of dressing a child in better clothes to symbolize __________.
her desire to have herself represented by her best possible work
her dislike for the appearance of the book
her sense of betrayal by her friends in their publishing her book
her inability to improve the poems in her rough draft
None of the other answers are correct.
her inability to improve the poems in her rough draft
Given the context of these lines and the double-meaning of trim, meaning both "to dress" and "to cut in length," the image of dressing a child in better clothes probably refers to her desire to revise the poems into better forms and her inability to do so (because she has only "homespun cloth").
Example Question #2 : Inferences: Poetry
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
The lines "In critic's hands beware thou dost not come, / And take thy way where yet thou art not known" implies all but which of the following?
Bradstreet is concerned about what new readers will think of the book
Bradstreet is concerned about the reception of her book by critics
Bradstreet is concerned about the reception of the book in an unfamiliar country
None of the other answers are correct.
Bradstreet wants her book to be seen by new readers
Bradstreet wants her book to be seen by new readers
"Take thy way" is an older way of saying "be careful," so in essence Bradstreet is warning her book to be careful with strangers (i.e., new readers in places where her work is not known) and critics.
Example Question #31 : Literary Analysis
Adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
Lines 7-10 imply all but which of the following?
None of the other answers is correct.
Bradstreet felt the poems needed tighter editing.
Bradstreet was embarassed by the book's publication.
Bradstreet did not feel the poems should have been read by the public.
Bradstreet immediately acknowledged she was the author of the book.
Bradstreet immediately acknowledged she was the author of the book.
There's nothing in these lines to indicate that Bradstreet immediately acknowledged authorship of the book, given that she finds it "rambling" and in need of tighter editing, and the fact that she "blushes" at its publication implies she does not feel the book was ready to be seen by the public.
Example Question #73 : Identifying And Analyzing Important Details In Humanities Passages
Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, expos’d to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
In this array ’mongst vulgars mayst thou roam.
In critics' hands, beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none:
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
The underlined lines "I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet, / Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet" most likely refers to what?
The poet revising the meter of the poems
The poet revising the form of the poems
None of the other answers is correct
The poet revising the rhyme of the poems
The poet revising the subject matter of the poems
The poet revising the meter of the poems
The word "feet" is the clue here: the meter of poems is measured in metrical feet, different combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables, and here, Bradstreet is using the image of stretching the "joints" of her "offspring" to even up the meter.
Passage adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
Example Question #11 : Inferences: Poetry
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.
The unannounced intention of the speaker is to __________.
explore new wilderness territories
pursue new romantic partners in the face of rejection
collect valuable seashells from the ocean
further his relationship with nature
express his love towards an unnamed woman
express his love towards an unnamed woman
While the speaker does not explicitly speak about his intentions, it can be inferred from the romantic language that he feels deeply for the unnamed person of interest (we assume a woman, though it is not stated.) Given the lack of support for the other answers in the passage, the audience can best infer his intention is to further this relationship.
Example Question #11 : Inferences: Poetry
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
In addition to apple picking, of what might this poem be a description?
Love
Fertility
Joy
Abundance
Death
Death
The tone of the poem is somber, which rules out love and joy. Based on the mention of “heaven,” “drowsing off, and “winter sleep,” it’s safe to assume that this poem may be discussing death.
Passage adapted from Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking.” North of Boston. (1915)
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