GRE Literature in English (REA) (9 page)

a story in which the characters and actions make literal sense as well as signify a second story

the repetition of sounds, especially beginning consonants in a sequence of words

a direct address to either a person or entity; many odes begin by addressing the subject of the poem

the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in a sequence of words

a song meant to be played or sung in the morning

a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story

a novel of education that tells the story of the protagonist's growth into adulthood

(fourteenth-century) poems written in the style of Marie de France; Chaucer's “The Franklin's Tale” is an example

language that sounds harsh and unmusical to the ear

a strong pause which occurs within a line of poetry

an extended comparison of two dissimilar things, used for poetic effect

the thoughts and feelings associated with a word outside of its dictionary meaning

the repetition of consonants in a sequence of words

an aristocratic code of love, wherein love was viewed as a religious passion. The devoted love between the knight and the beloved lady was ennobling and forever unfulfilled. (There is still debate on whether courtly love was actually practiced or whether it existed in literature only.) Chaucer's
Troylus and Criseyde
is a well-known work in which the conventions of courtly love can be seen.

the dictionary definition of a word, its primary meaning

in poetry, when the syntax of the poem carries over the end of the verse line, so that the thought being expressed does not end at the end of the line but is continued in the next line

language that is musical and pleasing to the ear

a short story told to illustrate a moral

a comic short story about middle- or working-class characters; this form was popular in medieval times and is often bawdy

a rhyme of two syllables in which the first syllable is stressed

a character not given very much individuation by the author; this character is usually used to illustrate an idea

a form of poetry that does not follow traditional meter or rhyme schemes

a type of Bildungsroman about the development of the protagonist into an artist

an element that recurs frequently in literature, or within a single work of literature

the mistaken use of a word in place of another that it resembles, resulting in a comic effect. This term comes from the character Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Sheridan's
The Rivals.

a rhyme of one accented syllable

a figure of speech where one word is used to describe another without making an explicit comparison

the rhythmic pattern of verse. Formal rhythmic patterns are discussed in terms of feet: the combination of a stressed syllable with one or more unstressed syllables makes up a foot. In describing the meter of a line, the foot is named and then the number of feet in the line, for example, iambic pentameter. Types of feet:

 

Iambic

 

an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

 

Anapestic

two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable

 

Trochaic

 

a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

Dactylic

a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables

 

Spondaic

a stressed syllable followed by an equally stressed syllable

 

Pyrric

an unstressed syllable followed by an equally unstressed syllable

 

The names of the lines in ascending order of feet are: monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, hepta-meter, and octameter.

something is evoked by an associated term; for example, the crown can refer to a queen or king or royalty in general.

late medieval morality plays dramatize moral instruction by allegorically personifying vices and virtues.

a phrase coined by T. S. Eliot to describe the concept that a poet must communicate emotion by finding a concrete situation that corresponds to, or evokes the emotion

a word whose sound mimics the sound it means, like
buzz
or
screech

an Italian stanza of eight eleven-syllabled lines with rhyme
abababcc

a song of praise, joy, triumph, or thanks sometimes directed at a god

a story told to illustrate a moral or religious lesson

a poem portraying a city poet's nostalgia for the idealized country life

a term invented by John Ruskin identifying the practice of personification

an inanimate object or an idea given human attributes

a narrative that portrays in a realistic, and sometimes satiric, manner the adventures of a rogue-hero

a character who is complex and individuated

a comparison between two different things using the words
like
or
as

a poem of fourteen lines of rhymed iambic pentameter; different rhyme schemes differentiate the Petrarchan sonnet, Shakespearean sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet

the representation of the flow of a character's psychic processes, including the intermingled thoughts, memories, associations, and feelings of the mind

a part of something stands in for the whole, or the whole stands in for a part

1.
(A)
Both epics begin in the middle of the action,
in medias res,
and give background information as the narrative progresses. They do not begin with epic metaphors (B) or epic similes (C), although both epics do contain epic similes. The places Colonus (D) and Thebes (E) are part of the Oedipus tragedies written by Sophocles.

 

2.
(B)
Aeschylus wrote the
Oresteia
trilogy. The trilogy is about the curse on the house of Atreus (A). Homer (C) wrote
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey.
Sophocles (D) wrote the Oedipus tragedies. Agamemnon (E) is a character in the
Oresteia
trilogy.

1. (
A
) While
Beowulf
is in English, it tells the story of the earlier Germanic tribes (the Danes and the Geats) from whom the English are descended.
The Dream of the Rood
(B) is a religious poem.
Ecclesiastical History
(C) is primarily concerned with the spread of Christianity.
Piers Plowman
(D) takes as its subject allegorical figures.
The Canterbury Tales
(E) concerns itself with a group of pilgrims.

 

2. (
A
) Grendel is the monster, described as a giant worm. His mother (B) doesn't have a name. (C), (D), and (E) are not part of the story; be sure to familiarize yourself with the plot of
Beowulf
if you got this question wrong.

1. (
B
) “The Nun's Priest's Tale” is a beast fable in which the main character is the cock, Chanticleer. “The Knight's Tale” (A) is a more elevated story of courtly love in keeping with the status of its teller. “The Miller's Tale” (C) is classified as a fabliau. “The Pardoner's Tale” (D) is an allegory about greed. “The Wife of Bath's Tale” is notable for asking the question: what do women want most?

 

2.
(A
) You should identify
Piers Plowman
by the allegorical personification of Truth, Righteousness, and Peace.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(B) can be eliminated because it is written in alliterative verse and the main characters are the two named in the title. Choices (C) and (D) can be eliminated because Chaucer's Middle English is accessible enough that it is not often modernized. Also, you should familiarize yourself with the most popular of Chaucer's tales. Choice (E) can be eliminated because
Le Morte D' Arthur
is a work of prose, not poetry.

1.
(C)
The flowers are named in line 6. (A), (B), (D), and (E) are all mentioned in the sonnet, but are not the referent in line 14.

 

2. (
D
)
The Winter's Tale
is a play by Shakespeare; the poem is his Sonnet 98, written in a form we now call the Shakespearean sonnet. “The Faerie Queene” (A) was written by Edmund Spenser, who also wrote sonnets in a form now referred to as the Spenserian sonnet.
Pamphilia to Amphilanthus
(C) is a Petrarchan sonnet sequence written by Lady Mary Wroth. “To His Coy Mistress” (E) is a poem (not in sonnet form) written by Andrew Marvell.

1.
(A)
William Congreve's Restoration comedy,
The Way of the
World, is recognizable by the witty speeches and descriptive characters' names.
Love for Love
(B) is also a play by Congreve.
The Importance of Being Earnest
(C) is a witty play by Oscar Wilde.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(D) is a Shakespearean comedy.
The Country-Wife
(E) is a Restoration comedy by William Wycherly.

 

2. (
E
) Richardson wrote the early novels
Pamela
and
Clarissa
in epistolary form, meaning that they are made up of a series of letters between the characters. Dryden (A) is primarily known for his poetry. Swift (B), Defoe (C), and Fielding (D) wrote prose, but not in epistolary form.

1. (
A
) The albatross is the famous symbol in this well-known poem; if you answered incorrectly be sure to read the poem. Although choices (B) through (E) are also Romantic poems, none of them use the albatross as a symbol.

 

2. (
E
) This passage from Keats' “Ode on a Grecian Urn” addresses the urn itself. Even if you didn't recognize the poem, the stanza itself gives enough information that you can tell it is a Grecian marble object. On the urn are depicted men and maidens (A) and a pastoral scene (B). The poem does not so much deal with youth (C) and old age (D) as it does with the transitory quality of life and the more permanent quality of art.

1.
(C)
Christina Rossetti is the author of “A Birthday” and “Goblin Market,” from which the stanza is excerpted. You can identify the poem as “Goblin Market” by its references to goblins and the character Laura. The tone and subject matter of “Goblin Market” differ completely from those of Matthew Arnold's lyric, “Dover Beach” (A); Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem, “The Lady of Shalott” (B); Elizabeth Barrett Browning's volume of poetry,
Sonnets from the Portuguese
(D); and Robert Browning's poem, “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church” (E).

 

2. (
E
) Bertha is Mr. Rochester's mad first wife in
Jane Eyre
.
Wide Sargasso Sea
creates a story and background for the character, Bertha, who is locked in the attic of Mr. Rochester's house in
Jane Eyre
. Both of Dickens' novels (A and B) have female characters who are considered to be mad, but neither of them are named Bertha. “Dover Beach” (C) is a poem, not a novel, so you should have been able to immediately discard this choice. The two main characters in Emily Brontë's
Wuthering Heights
(D) are Catherine and Heathcliff.

1. (
B
) Emily Dickinson is easily identifiable because of her distinctive use of the dash and her sparse language. “Because I could not stop for Death” is one of her most famous poems. “Song of Myself” (A) is one of Walt Whitman's most famous poems in
Leaves of Grass
. Elizabeth Bishop is the author of “The Imaginary Iceberg” (C); Wallace Stevens wrote “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” (D); and Anne Sexton is the author of “Song for a Red Nightgown” (E). The poems comprising choices (C), (D), and (E) are twentieth-century works, while Dickinson and Whitman wrote in the nineteenth century.

 

2. (
A
) “Song of Myself” is one of Walt Whitman's most famous poems in
Leaves of Grass
; the excerpt quoted is from “I Hear America Singing,” also found in
Leaves of Grass
. Whitman is recognizable by his patriotic themes and embracing impulse toward all he describes. Emily Dickinson wrote “Because I could not stop for Death” (B); Elizabeth Bishop is the author of “The Imaginary Iceberg”(C); Wallace Stevens wrote “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” (D); and Anne Sexton is the author of “Song for a Red Nightgown” (E). The poems comprising choices (C), (D), and (E) are twentieth-century works, while Dickinson and Whitman wrote in the nineteenth century.

1. (
C
) Polonius is the attendant lord in
Hamlet
who is ‘full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse.' The speaker asserts he is not Prince Hamlet (A); that he is not at the center of action, but a peripheral character. The play the speaker alludes to was written by Shakespeare (B) but the speaker in no way compares himself to the author. The speaker's view of himself as a supporting character makes it similarly impossible for him to compare himself to the king (D), and there is no allusion to Claudius in any case. Although the speaker, in comparing himself with Polonius, indicates that his character sometimes almost crosses over into the Fool (E), he is not comparing himself with the Fool.

 

2. (
B
) This stanza is from T. S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which you can identify by the self-deprecating tone of the speaker. “The Waste Land” (A) is also a famous poem by Eliot, but the subject matter and the speakers of the poem are far different from “Prufrock.” Choices (C) and (D) are both poems by Yeats, again with a far different voice and tone. Choice (E) is a poem written by W. H. Auden about Yeats.