GRE Literature in English (REA) (11 page)

We picture the world as thick with conquering and elite humanity, but here, with the bugles of the tempest pealing, it was hard to imagine a peopled earth. One viewed the existence of man then as a marvel, and conceded a glamour of wonder to these lice which were caused to cling to a whirling, fire-smitten, ice-locked, disease-stricken, space-lost bulb. One was a coxcombe not to die in it.

Which best describes this world-view?

1. Man's life is futile and farcical.
   
2. Man is a wonderful creation.
   
3. Man's life is no more important than an insect's.
   
4. Man is at the center of the universe.
   
5. Man's place in the world is to create light.
   

In context, which best defines “coxcombe”?

1. A conceited fool
   
2. A tragic hero
   
3. A moron
   
4. A wastrel
   
5. A dandy
   

The author of this passage also wrote

1. The Stranger.
   
2. Breakfast of Champions
   .
   
3. The Red Badge of Courage.
   
4. The Crying of Lot 49.
   
5. Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
   

And round it was upon a hill It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill

 

The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.

 

By “it,” the poet means

1. a blackbird.
   
2. death.
   
3. a jar.
   
4. a plum.
   
5. nature.
   

As to what that exile and that longing for reunion meant, Rieux had no idea. But as he walked ahead, jostled on all sides, accosted now and then, and gradually made his way into less crowded streets, he was thinking it has no importance whether such things have or have not a meaning; all we need consider is the answer given to men's hope.

What has just ended “that exile”?

1. The Holocaust
   
2. The Russian Revolution
   
3. The French Revolution
   
4. An epidemic
   
5. The winter
   

What term best describes the author's philosophy?

1. Determinism
   
2. Negativism
   
3. Existentialism
   
4. Quietism
   
5. Nihilism
   

“The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.”

 

Who said this about which sort of poetry?

1. Bacon on Shakespeare's love sonnets
   
2. Dryden on love poetry
   
3. Milton on epic poetry
   
4. Samuel Johnson on metaphysical poetry
   
5. Ben Jonson on religious sonnets
   

Which of the following best defines the term “comedy of manners”?

1. A play or novel in which strong, moral values are hidden by trite appearances
   
2. A comedy where etiquette is seriously followed
   
3. A play or novel in which etiquette is uproariously parodied
   
4. A play in which odd and witty people make fun of other odd and witty people
   
5. A novel in which unconventional behavior shocks conventional people
   

Which represents the poet and a neighbor as an apple orchard and a pine tree?

Which contains the following lines?

 

Leaves like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Which is adapted in the following?

 

To everything
Turn, turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn.

“I realize,” the girl said. “Can't we maybe stop talking?”

They sat down at the table and the girl looked across at the dry side of the valley and the man looked at her and at the table.

“You've got to realize,” he said, “that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.”

“Doesn't it mean anything to you? We could get along.”

“Of course it does. But I don't want anyone else. And I know it's perfectly simple.”

“It's all right for you to say that, but I do know it.... Would you do something for me now?”

“I'd do anything for you.”

“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”

He did not say anything but looked at the bags against the wall of the station. There were labels on them from all the hotels where they had spent nights.

What is the main point of the discussion?

1. Seduction
   
2. Abortion
   
3. Accusation
   
4. Vacation
   
5. Repetition
   

What does the “dry valley” reflect in the relationship?

1. Dryness
   
2. Finality
   
3. Sterility
   
4. Passion
   
5. Heat
   

Which best explains the significance of the details of the bags?

1. The couple have traveled extensively.
   
2. The couple love traveling, not each other.
   
3. The couple are on vacation.
   
4. The couple have a restless physical relationship.
   
5. The couple share their luggage and their emotional love.
   

The plot of such novels usually involved an amazingly virtuous and beautiful heroine in all kinds of terrifying adventures, generally in a foreign land—Italy was popular because of the “banditti.” Murders, sadistic villains, old ruins, haunted buildings, long lost children, explanatory documents hidden in secret drawers—all that could shock and horrify the reader were part of the trappings of these novels.

The novels referred to are known as

1. Italian novels.
   
2. Gothic novels.
   
3. Realistic novels.
   
4. Naturalistic novels.
   
5. Detective novels.
   

Which one of the following is a burlesque of such a novel?

1. Northanger Abbey
   
2. The Mysteries of Udolpho
   
3. The Italian
   
4. Frankenstein
   
5. Evelina
   

As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year with little other nourishment, at most not above the value of two shillings, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to the feeding and partly to the clothing of many thousands.

The tone of the passage is

1. reasonable and mathematical.
   
2. angry and threatening.
   
3. religious and reverent.
   
4. hypocritical and sanctimonious.
   
5. mature and sensitive.
   

What is the proposal the writer suggests later?

1. To ship out the nursing mothers to America
   
2. To use the babies' hair for thread for weaving
   
3. To use the babies' carcasses as meat and soft gloves
   
4. To impose a tax on mothers with more than one child
   
5. To impose harsh penalties on nursing mothers found begging
   

Which of the following defines such writing?

1. Realism
   
2. Satire
   
3. Irony
   
4. Modernism
   
5. Hedonism
   

A contemporary of the writer was

1. John Donne.
   
2. Milton.
   
3. Henry Fielding.
   
4. Henry James.
   
5. Cyril Tourneur.
   

Sir, ‘twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much,” or “paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart-how shall I say?—too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she lik'd whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace...

The poem is an example of

1. a satiric dialogue.
   
2. a sonnet.
   
3. a parody.
   
4. dramatic irony.
   
5. a dramatic monologue.
   

The men are looking at

1. a statue of a sea horse.
   
2. a landscape.
   
3. a portrait.
   
4. a book of favors.
   
5. designs for an orchard.
   

The speaker reveals himself as

1. proud and egotistical.
   
2. weak and effete.
   
3. angry and inane.
   
4. approving and amiable.
   
5. old and unreasonable.
   

The Duchess is revealed as

1. one who flirts with all men.
   
2. one who takes delight in simple things.
   
3. one who knows how beautiful she is and plays on it.
   
4. one who delights in rank and jewels.
   
5. one who has had many affairs.
   

This fellow's of exceeding honesty,
And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit
Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings
I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind
To prey at fortune. Haply for I am black
And have not those parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that's not much—
She's gone. I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her...

Yet ‘tis the plague to great ones;
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death.
Even then this forked plague is fated to us
When we do quicken. Look where she comes.

“This fellow” is

1. Cassio.
   
2. Bassanio.
   
3. Mercutio.
   
4. Iago.
   
5. Horatio.
   

Which best defines the metaphor in lines 3 – 7?

1. If I find she is old and deteriorating, I'll lock her up.
   
2. If I find as she gets older she becomes more witch-like, I'll banish her.
   
3. If I find that she is like a hawk gone wild, I'll let her fly free.
   
4. If I find she is like a mare grown old, I'll whistle to her to come to me and love her.
   
5. If I find she is dishonest, I'll let her find her own fortune on her own.
   

What is significant about the word “forked” in line 15?

1. Split in two—the sign of the devil
   
2. Horned—the sign of the cuckold
   
3. Poisoned—by a contaminated fork
   
4. Deceived—by a liar with a forked-tongue
   
5. Obsessed—with a whore
   

In context, what is the meaning of “quicken” in line 16?

1. Die
   
2. Are born
   
3. Fall in love
   
4. Fall ill
   
5. Rush love too quickly
   

The power of the novel is precisely what made it such a dangerous book in the opinions of most early reviews. did not seem to use her power to condemn the action of Edna Pontellier as Flaubert condemned Emma Bovary in the novel to which it is most often compared.

 

Which author's name completes the passage?

1. Jane Austen
   
2. George Eliot
   
3. George Sand
   
4. Kate Chopin
   
5. Emily Brontë