Literary Analysis - AP English Literature and Composition
Card 1 of 440
A)
I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly consider'd how much depended upon what they were then doing;—that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;—and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost.
B)
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
C)
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...
His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face.
He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived: she sold lemon platt.
D)
Eight months after the celebration of the nuptials between Captain Blifil and Miss Bridget Allworthy, a young lady of great beauty, merit, and fortune, was Miss Bridget, by reason of a fright, delivered of a fine boy. The child was indeed to all appearances perfect; but the midwife discovered it was born a month before its full time.
Which begins James Joyce's The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
A)
I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly consider'd how much depended upon what they were then doing;—that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;—and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost.
B)
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
C)
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...
His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face.
He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived: she sold lemon platt.
D)
Eight months after the celebration of the nuptials between Captain Blifil and Miss Bridget Allworthy, a young lady of great beauty, merit, and fortune, was Miss Bridget, by reason of a fright, delivered of a fine boy. The child was indeed to all appearances perfect; but the midwife discovered it was born a month before its full time.
Which begins James Joyce's The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
Tap to reveal answer
The key here is modernist experimentation.
Autobiographies are normally written from the point of view of the mature author, but in the opening lines of The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Joyce experiments with a stream-of-consciousness flow as experienced by a young child—a technique that he would go on to refine in Ulysses.
A is the opening paragraph from Sterne's Tristram Shandy, written one hundred and fifty years before Joyce's novella. Even though Tristram Shandy is also highly experimental, the eighteenth-century diction is a hint that this is not a work by Joyce.
Band Dby Dickens and Fielding, respectively, are also conventional in terms of style and narration.
A: Adapted from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759)
B: Adapted from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)
C: Adapted from The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)
D: Adapted from The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding (1749)
The key here is modernist experimentation.
Autobiographies are normally written from the point of view of the mature author, but in the opening lines of The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Joyce experiments with a stream-of-consciousness flow as experienced by a young child—a technique that he would go on to refine in Ulysses.
A is the opening paragraph from Sterne's Tristram Shandy, written one hundred and fifty years before Joyce's novella. Even though Tristram Shandy is also highly experimental, the eighteenth-century diction is a hint that this is not a work by Joyce.
Band Dby Dickens and Fielding, respectively, are also conventional in terms of style and narration.
A: Adapted from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759)
B: Adapted from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)
C: Adapted from The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)
D: Adapted from The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding (1749)
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"A preacher in earnest, weeping sometimes for his auditory, sometimes with them; always preaching to himself like an angel from a cloud, but in none; carrying some, as St. Paul was, to heaven in holy raptures, and enticing others by a sacred art and courtship to amend their lives: Here picturing a vice so as to make it ugly to those that practiced it, and a virtue so as to make it be beloved even by those that loved it not, and all this with a most particular grace and an inexpressible comeliness."
Who is the subject of this biographical excerpt?
"A preacher in earnest, weeping sometimes for his auditory, sometimes with them; always preaching to himself like an angel from a cloud, but in none; carrying some, as St. Paul was, to heaven in holy raptures, and enticing others by a sacred art and courtship to amend their lives: Here picturing a vice so as to make it ugly to those that practiced it, and a virtue so as to make it be beloved even by those that loved it not, and all this with a most particular grace and an inexpressible comeliness."
Who is the subject of this biographical excerpt?
Tap to reveal answer
The correct answer is John Donne (1572-1631). A "Metaphysical" poet known for his romantic and satyrical works, Donne was ordained as an Anglican Priest in 1615, and served as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1621 until his death in 1631. In both his secular—often erotic—poetry and his devout prose meditations, Donne used extended visual metaphors, or "conceits," to explore metaphysical concepts in terms of everyday objects and phenomena from the physical world.
George Herbert (1593-1633), also an Anglican priest and Metaphysical poet, wrote exclusively on religious and spiritual themes.
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), poet, politician, and close friend to John Milton, was the author of "To His Coy Mistress," "The Garden," "An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return From Ireland," and other poems in the Metaphysical vein.
John Milton (1608-1674), puritan writer of poetry and prose works, is best known today as the author of Paradise Lost (1667).
Henry Wotton (1568-1639) was an English writer, diplomat, and politician, who is best known today for his ode, "O his Mistris, the Queen of Bohemia."
Passage adapted from Izaak Walton, The Lives of Dr. John Donne; Sir Henry Wotton; Mr. Richard Hooker; Mr. George Herbert; and Dr. Robert Sanderson. By Isaac Walton. With Notes, and the Life of the Author. By Thomas Zouch, Md. (London: Wilson, Spence, and Mawman, 1796): 57.
The correct answer is John Donne (1572-1631). A "Metaphysical" poet known for his romantic and satyrical works, Donne was ordained as an Anglican Priest in 1615, and served as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1621 until his death in 1631. In both his secular—often erotic—poetry and his devout prose meditations, Donne used extended visual metaphors, or "conceits," to explore metaphysical concepts in terms of everyday objects and phenomena from the physical world.
George Herbert (1593-1633), also an Anglican priest and Metaphysical poet, wrote exclusively on religious and spiritual themes.
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), poet, politician, and close friend to John Milton, was the author of "To His Coy Mistress," "The Garden," "An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return From Ireland," and other poems in the Metaphysical vein.
John Milton (1608-1674), puritan writer of poetry and prose works, is best known today as the author of Paradise Lost (1667).
Henry Wotton (1568-1639) was an English writer, diplomat, and politician, who is best known today for his ode, "O his Mistris, the Queen of Bohemia."
Passage adapted from Izaak Walton, The Lives of Dr. John Donne; Sir Henry Wotton; Mr. Richard Hooker; Mr. George Herbert; and Dr. Robert Sanderson. By Isaac Walton. With Notes, and the Life of the Author. By Thomas Zouch, Md. (London: Wilson, Spence, and Mawman, 1796): 57.
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All of the following novels are set during World War II, EXCEPT .
All of the following novels are set during World War II, EXCEPT .
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Ford Maddox Ford (1873–1939) belongs to an earlier generation of writers, and did not live to see the outbreak of World War II. The Good Soldier was written during—and is set against the backdrop of—World War I.
The other titles are all iconic World War II novels that in different ways portray the dehumanizing effects of war.
Ford Maddox Ford (1873–1939) belongs to an earlier generation of writers, and did not live to see the outbreak of World War II. The Good Soldier was written during—and is set against the backdrop of—World War I.
The other titles are all iconic World War II novels that in different ways portray the dehumanizing effects of war.
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There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.
The bell mentioned in the passage can best be understood to refer to .
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.
The bell mentioned in the passage can best be understood to refer to .
Tap to reveal answer
The bell in this sermon is that which was traditionally rung to announce a death. Even if you weren't familiar with this piece or aware of the practice of ringing a bell to announce a death, the description of the bell's hearer as being united with God should be enough to clue you into the fact that the poem is concerned with mortality.
Adapted from "Meditation XVII" in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and Severall Steps in My Sicknes by John Donne (1624)
The bell in this sermon is that which was traditionally rung to announce a death. Even if you weren't familiar with this piece or aware of the practice of ringing a bell to announce a death, the description of the bell's hearer as being united with God should be enough to clue you into the fact that the poem is concerned with mortality.
Adapted from "Meditation XVII" in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and Severall Steps in My Sicknes by John Donne (1624)
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"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing. and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
Who is the character referred to in the underlined simile?
"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing. and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
Who is the character referred to in the underlined simile?
Tap to reveal answer
The explanation in parenthesis ("shorn of his strength and blind") is key here. The book of Judges in the Christian Bible tells the story of Samson who was given supernatural strength by God, but was later betrayed by a woman, Delilah, who cut off his hair where his strength resided (he was "shorn of his strength") and handed him over to his enemies, who gouged out his eyes.
Cain and Moses are not associated with blindness, and while Oedipus, according to Greek myth, did gouge his eyes out, he is not a "Hebrew" character.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
The explanation in parenthesis ("shorn of his strength and blind") is key here. The book of Judges in the Christian Bible tells the story of Samson who was given supernatural strength by God, but was later betrayed by a woman, Delilah, who cut off his hair where his strength resided (he was "shorn of his strength") and handed him over to his enemies, who gouged out his eyes.
Cain and Moses are not associated with blindness, and while Oedipus, according to Greek myth, did gouge his eyes out, he is not a "Hebrew" character.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
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"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing. and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1818)
The underlined phrases all feature which of the following?
"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing. and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1818)
The underlined phrases all feature which of the following?
Tap to reveal answer
The phrases all feature the repetition of words that begin with the same letter for rhetorical effect--that is, alliteration.
There is no hyperbole (exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally), not even in "millions of men." The people of England did number in the millions when Hazlitt was writing.
Synecdoche (a trope where the part represents the whole or vice versa) and onomatopoeia (words that imitate the sound they describe) are also absent.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
The phrases all feature the repetition of words that begin with the same letter for rhetorical effect--that is, alliteration.
There is no hyperbole (exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally), not even in "millions of men." The people of England did number in the millions when Hazlitt was writing.
Synecdoche (a trope where the part represents the whole or vice versa) and onomatopoeia (words that imitate the sound they describe) are also absent.
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
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"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
What is a more contemporary synonym for the underlined word ("sycophant")?
"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
What is a more contemporary synonym for the underlined word ("sycophant")?
Tap to reveal answer
A "sycophant" is someone who flatters the people in power for personal gain. "Yes-man" would be a more contemporary synonym. Note that Hazlitt goes on to provide a synonym ("court favorite").
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
A "sycophant" is someone who flatters the people in power for personal gain. "Yes-man" would be a more contemporary synonym. Note that Hazlitt goes on to provide a synonym ("court favorite").
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
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"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
The author of the passage quoted also wrote which of the following works?
"What is the People?"
And who are you that ask the question? One of the people. And yet you would be something! Then you would not have the People nothing. For what is the People? Millions of men, like you, with hearts beating in their bosoms, with thoughts stirring in their minds, with blood circulating in their veins, with wants and appetites, with passions and anxious cares, with busy purposes and affections for others and a respect for themselves, and a desire of happiness, and a right to freedom, and a will to be free. And yet you would tear out this mighty heart of a nation, and lay it bare and bleeding at the foot of despotism: you would slay the mind of a country to fill up the dreary aching void with the old, obscene, drivelling prejudices of superstition and tyranny: you would tread out the eye of Liberty (the light of nations) like 'a vile jelly', that mankind may be led about darkling to its endless drudgery, like the Hebrew ---------- (shorn of his strength and blind), by his insulting taskmasters: you would make the throne every thing and the people nothing, to be yourself less than nothing, a very slave, a reptile, a creeping, cringing sycophant, a court favorite, a pander to Legitimacy - that detestable fiction, which would make you and me and all mankind its slaves or victims.
The author of the passage quoted also wrote which of the following works?
Tap to reveal answer
The passage is from an 1817 essay by William Hazlitt, author of Table Talk (a collection of essays) and Liber Amoris (an account of a tragic love affair).
With its call for liberty for "millions of men," the essay is an explicit critique of the conservative philosophy of Edmund Burke, who wrote On the Sublime and Reflections on the Revolution in France.
The Rambler and A Dictionary of the English Language are works by Samuel Johnson, a staunch conservative/Tory writer unlikely to have produced such a passionate paean to liberty.
_The Sacred Wood and The Waste Land are works by T. S. Eliot, who famously described himself as "Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature, and a royalist in politics."
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
The passage is from an 1817 essay by William Hazlitt, author of Table Talk (a collection of essays) and Liber Amoris (an account of a tragic love affair).
With its call for liberty for "millions of men," the essay is an explicit critique of the conservative philosophy of Edmund Burke, who wrote On the Sublime and Reflections on the Revolution in France.
The Rambler and A Dictionary of the English Language are works by Samuel Johnson, a staunch conservative/Tory writer unlikely to have produced such a passionate paean to liberty.
_The Sacred Wood and The Waste Land are works by T. S. Eliot, who famously described himself as "Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature, and a royalist in politics."
Passage adapted from "What is the People?" by William Hazlitt (1817)
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Adapted from Timon of Athens, IV:3, lines 409-447 by William Shakespeare
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n
From general excrement: each thing's a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft.
Which of the following is NOT exemplified in the above selection from Timon of Athens?
Adapted from Timon of Athens, IV:3, lines 409-447 by William Shakespeare
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n
From general excrement: each thing's a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft.
Which of the following is NOT exemplified in the above selection from Timon of Athens?
Tap to reveal answer
Sprung Rhythm is a system of scansion in which only stressed syllables are counted. It was invented by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in the late-19th century.
Blank Verse is a poetic form composed of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.
Iambic pentameter is a metrical form in which each line consists of five iambic feet. A metrical foot is a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables. An iambic foot consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Personification is the attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects.
A Poetic Conceit is an extended metaphor that compares dissimilar objects in a surprising and imaginative manner.
Sprung Rhythm is a system of scansion in which only stressed syllables are counted. It was invented by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in the late-19th century.
Blank Verse is a poetic form composed of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.
Iambic pentameter is a metrical form in which each line consists of five iambic feet. A metrical foot is a unit of stressed and unstressed syllables. An iambic foot consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Personification is the attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects.
A Poetic Conceit is an extended metaphor that compares dissimilar objects in a surprising and imaginative manner.
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Adapted from Timon of Athens, IV:3, lines 409-447 by William Shakespeare
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n
From general excrement: each thing's a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft.
The above passage from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" is the source of the title of a novel by which twentieth century author?
Adapted from Timon of Athens, IV:3, lines 409-447 by William Shakespeare
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n
From general excrement: each thing's a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft.
The above passage from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" is the source of the title of a novel by which twentieth century author?
Tap to reveal answer
"Timon of Athens" (one of the more obscure works by Shakespeare) is a key intertext in Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel Pale Fire, the title of which was drawn from the third line of the passage in question.
"Timon of Athens" (one of the more obscure works by Shakespeare) is a key intertext in Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel Pale Fire, the title of which was drawn from the third line of the passage in question.
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Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
The versification of the poem would be best classified as .
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
The versification of the poem would be best classified as .
Tap to reveal answer
Sprung rhythm is a rhythmic structure that was developed by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Rather than using lines built around metric feet containing a set number of syllables, sprung rhythm is structured around feet with a variable number of syllables, with the stress always falling on the first syllable in the foot. Sprung rhythm is based on the rhythmic structure of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Passage adapted from "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1918)
Sprung rhythm is a rhythmic structure that was developed by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Rather than using lines built around metric feet containing a set number of syllables, sprung rhythm is structured around feet with a variable number of syllables, with the stress always falling on the first syllable in the foot. Sprung rhythm is based on the rhythmic structure of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Passage adapted from "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1918)
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Oh, weep for Adonais! The quick Dreams,
The passion-winged Ministers of thought,
Who were his flocks, whom near the living streams
Of his young spirit he fed, and whom he taught
The love which was its music, wander not—
Wander no more, from kindling brain to brain,
But droop there, whence they sprung; and mourn their lot
Round the cold heart, where, after their sweet pain,
They ne'er will gather strength, or find a home again.
This poem from which this excerpt is taken best exemplifies .
Oh, weep for Adonais! The quick Dreams,
The passion-winged Ministers of thought,
Who were his flocks, whom near the living streams
Of his young spirit he fed, and whom he taught
The love which was its music, wander not—
Wander no more, from kindling brain to brain,
But droop there, whence they sprung; and mourn their lot
Round the cold heart, where, after their sweet pain,
They ne'er will gather strength, or find a home again.
This poem from which this excerpt is taken best exemplifies .
Tap to reveal answer
A pastoral elegy is a poem of mourning sung by or featuring a shepherd or shepherds. The poem from which this is taken is among the most famous pastoral elegies written in the English Language. The fact that the excerpt begins "Oh weep for Adonais!" should clue you in to the fact that it is from some type elegiac poem, and the description of the "Passion-winged Ministers of thought" as the deceased's "Flocks" is a clear indication of a conventional pastoral elegy.
Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)
A pastoral elegy is a poem of mourning sung by or featuring a shepherd or shepherds. The poem from which this is taken is among the most famous pastoral elegies written in the English Language. The fact that the excerpt begins "Oh weep for Adonais!" should clue you in to the fact that it is from some type elegiac poem, and the description of the "Passion-winged Ministers of thought" as the deceased's "Flocks" is a clear indication of a conventional pastoral elegy.
Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)
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Oh, weep for Adonais! The quick Dreams,
The passion-winged Ministers of thought,
Who were his flocks, whom near the living streams
Of his young spirit he fed, and whom he taught
The love which was its music, wander not—
Wander no more, from kindling brain to brain,
But droop there, whence they sprung; and mourn their lot
Round the cold heart, where, after their sweet pain,
They ne'er will gather strength, or find a home again.
The verse form in this poem most closely resembles that in which of the following works?
Oh, weep for Adonais! The quick Dreams,
The passion-winged Ministers of thought,
Who were his flocks, whom near the living streams
Of his young spirit he fed, and whom he taught
The love which was its music, wander not—
Wander no more, from kindling brain to brain,
But droop there, whence they sprung; and mourn their lot
Round the cold heart, where, after their sweet pain,
They ne'er will gather strength, or find a home again.
The verse form in this poem most closely resembles that in which of the following works?
Tap to reveal answer
Shelley wrote the poem in what are known as Spenserian stanzas. The Spenserian stanza was first invented by Edmund Spenser for his allegorical epic, The Faerie Queene, and consists of eight lines of iambic pentameter followed by an alexandrine (a line of iambic hexameter). The rhyme scheme of the Spenserian Stanza is A-B-A-B-B-C-B-C-C.
Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)
Shelley wrote the poem in what are known as Spenserian stanzas. The Spenserian stanza was first invented by Edmund Spenser for his allegorical epic, The Faerie Queene, and consists of eight lines of iambic pentameter followed by an alexandrine (a line of iambic hexameter). The rhyme scheme of the Spenserian Stanza is A-B-A-B-B-C-B-C-C.
Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)
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What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?
What genre is this poem classified as?
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?
What genre is this poem classified as?
Tap to reveal answer
The Rape of the Lock is a famous mock-heroic poem. This genre of poetry parodies classical epics, exaggerating situations and characters to make them worthy of (satirically) epic narratives.
Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12(1712; ed. 1906)
The Rape of the Lock is a famous mock-heroic poem. This genre of poetry parodies classical epics, exaggerating situations and characters to make them worthy of (satirically) epic narratives.
Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12(1712; ed. 1906)
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What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?
What is the meter of this poem?
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?
What is the meter of this poem?
Tap to reveal answer
Like most mock-heroic poems, this work relies on heroic couplets, or rhyming lines of iambic pentameter.
Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12(1712; ed. 1906)
Like most mock-heroic poems, this work relies on heroic couplets, or rhyming lines of iambic pentameter.
Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12(1712; ed. 1906)
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If chance, by lonely Contemplation led,
Some hidden Spirit shall inquire thy Fate,
Haply some hoary-headed Swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the Peep of Dawn
Brushing with hasty Steps the Dews away
To meet the Sun upon the upland Lawn.
There at the Foot of yonder nodding Beech
That wreathes its old fantastic Roots so high,
His listless Length at Noontide wou'd he stretch,
And pore upon the Brook that babbles by."
What form does this poem take?
If chance, by lonely Contemplation led,
Some hidden Spirit shall inquire thy Fate,
Haply some hoary-headed Swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the Peep of Dawn
Brushing with hasty Steps the Dews away
To meet the Sun upon the upland Lawn.
There at the Foot of yonder nodding Beech
That wreathes its old fantastic Roots so high,
His listless Length at Noontide wou'd he stretch,
And pore upon the Brook that babbles by."
What form does this poem take?
Tap to reveal answer
Although the poem’s title suggests it is an elegy, the work is really more similar to an ode, or a lyrical stanza. The poem is mainly concerned with a deep contemplation of death and life after death, and it mourns general human mortality much more than any single individual in the churchyard.
Passage adapted from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray, ln.95-104 (1751)
Although the poem’s title suggests it is an elegy, the work is really more similar to an ode, or a lyrical stanza. The poem is mainly concerned with a deep contemplation of death and life after death, and it mourns general human mortality much more than any single individual in the churchyard.
Passage adapted from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray, ln.95-104 (1751)
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Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
Who is the author referred to in line 2?
Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
Who is the author referred to in line 2?
Tap to reveal answer
The Roman poet Horace wrote Ars Poetica, a how-to guide or instruction manual for aspiring poets in which he coined the phrase "in medias res," which translates to into the middle of things. To create reader interest from the get-go, Horace recommends that poets start from the middle point of a story, instead of from the beginning, and this is what Byron takes issue with here, albeit ironically.
Note the "Horace," "heroic", "hero" alliteration.
While Longinus did write a treatise on poetry (On the Sublime), he is not associated with the doctrine of "in medias res."
Furthermore, the meter calls for a disyllabic (two-syllable) word, so "Longinus" and "Petronius" wouldn't really scan.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
The Roman poet Horace wrote Ars Poetica, a how-to guide or instruction manual for aspiring poets in which he coined the phrase "in medias res," which translates to into the middle of things. To create reader interest from the get-go, Horace recommends that poets start from the middle point of a story, instead of from the beginning, and this is what Byron takes issue with here, albeit ironically.
Note the "Horace," "heroic", "hero" alliteration.
While Longinus did write a treatise on poetry (On the Sublime), he is not associated with the doctrine of "in medias res."
Furthermore, the meter calls for a disyllabic (two-syllable) word, so "Longinus" and "Petronius" wouldn't really scan.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
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Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
How do the two highlighted lines relate to each other?
Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
How do the two highlighted lines relate to each other?
Tap to reveal answer
The stanzas are highly ironic as Byron, on the one hand, goes to great pains to explain how dangerous it is to digress (the sin of "wandering") when writing poetry but, on the other hand, takes great pleasure in digressing at the same time.
This irony is brought to the fore with the "sinning"/"spinning" rhyme. Describing how long it took him to pen the line instead of actually getting on with the story is an example of a digression that has nothing to do with the actual story of Don Juan. As such, the line makes a mockery of the idea that "wandering" is the worst of sinning.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
The stanzas are highly ironic as Byron, on the one hand, goes to great pains to explain how dangerous it is to digress (the sin of "wandering") when writing poetry but, on the other hand, takes great pleasure in digressing at the same time.
This irony is brought to the fore with the "sinning"/"spinning" rhyme. Describing how long it took him to pen the line instead of actually getting on with the story is an example of a digression that has nothing to do with the actual story of Don Juan. As such, the line makes a mockery of the idea that "wandering" is the worst of sinning.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
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Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
The author of this stanza is .
Most epic poets plunge 'in medias res'
(______ makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,
Which serves the happy couple for a tavern.
That is the usual method, but not mine—
My way is to begin with the beginning;
The regularity of my design
Forbids all wandering as the worst of sinning,
And therefore I shall open with a line
(Although it cost me half an hour in spinning)
Narrating somewhat of Don Juan's father,
And also of his mother, if you'd rather.
The author of this stanza is .
Tap to reveal answer
The two stanzas are from Canto I of Lord Byron's "epic satire" Don Juan. The other three authors are not known for reworkings of the Don Juan story.
More tellingly, the style of the work and the stanzas quoted—ironic and irreverent—is very different from the styles of Wordsworth, Blake, and Clare, who strove for a "natural", straightforward, non-ironic diction in their poetry.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
The two stanzas are from Canto I of Lord Byron's "epic satire" Don Juan. The other three authors are not known for reworkings of the Don Juan story.
More tellingly, the style of the work and the stanzas quoted—ironic and irreverent—is very different from the styles of Wordsworth, Blake, and Clare, who strove for a "natural", straightforward, non-ironic diction in their poetry.
Passage adapted from Don Juan by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1819)
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Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning, how the Heavens and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God: I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
(John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I.)
What is the main verb in the first ten lines of the excerpt above?
Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning, how the Heavens and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God: I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
(John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I.)
What is the main verb in the first ten lines of the excerpt above?
Tap to reveal answer
The imperative "sing" (line 6) is the dominant verb of the first clause of the passage, which the narrating voice directs at the clause's understood subject, the "Muse." The other verbs listed as options appear within subordinate clauses and do not govern the entire ten-line section.
Adapted from Paradise Lost: A Poem, in Twelve Books (London: J. & H. Richter, 1794): 1-2 by John Milton
The imperative "sing" (line 6) is the dominant verb of the first clause of the passage, which the narrating voice directs at the clause's understood subject, the "Muse." The other verbs listed as options appear within subordinate clauses and do not govern the entire ten-line section.
Adapted from Paradise Lost: A Poem, in Twelve Books (London: J. & H. Richter, 1794): 1-2 by John Milton
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