GRE Literature in English (REA) (3 page)

CHAUCER AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

 

Geoffrey Chaucer is by far the most significant figure from this period. However, you should also know the other important Middle English authors listed here and what they wrote, if only to be able to eliminate them as possible answers for questions that deal with later periods.

The Canterbury Tales
are Geoffrey Chaucer's central achievement and are written in Middle English. The date of composition is usually given as circa 1387. These tales exert a strong influence on the English literary imagination, and it is recommended that you read some of the major tales that are likely to be referenced by ETS. At a minimum, you should spend some time looking over excerpts of the text in order to become familiar with Chaucerian diction and spelling. He alternates between different verse forms and prose, but most of the major tales are written as poetry. “The General Prologue” outlines the major characters and sets the basic scene: a group of travelers are making a pilgrimage to Canterbury and decide to pass the time by engaging in a story-telling contest. The major tales are summarized below.

 

 

The Knight's Tale

 

A long, elaborate tale concerning the rivalry between Arcite and Palamon for the love of Emelye, a woman neither has met. After a convoluted series of events and changes of fortune, the young men stage a duel for Emelye's hand. Arcite prays to Mars and Palamon to Venus. A dispute erupts among the gods, and in the end each man is granted his wish: Arcite wins the duel, but dies immediately afterward, so that Palamon weds Emelye.

 

 

The Miller's Tale

 

It is important to know that generically “The Miller's Tale” is considered a fabliau, as are several other tales, including “The Reeve's Tale.” “The Miller's Tale” is a bawdy tale of sexual misadventure between a carpenter's wife and a young student, Nicholas. Through a series of deceptions, the young lovers manage to force the carpenter into hiding in anticipation of a second great flood while they spend the night together. In a classic instance of Chaucerian ribaldry, they also manage to trick a foppish would-be suitor of the young wife into kissing her buttocks in the darkness. The enraged suitor gets his revenge against Nicholas with a hot poker, though, sending everything into chaos and bringing the carpenter bumbling back into the scene.

 

 

The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

The Wife of Bath is a remarkable figure. The prologue, in which she gives her personal history, is probably just as important as her tale itself. The Wife of Bath is a surprisingly frank woman who is open about the joy she takes in sex. She has been married five times, and sexual partners other than her husbands are also alluded to. She is a popular figure for thinking about gender roles in the period: on the one hand, she is an example of the sexually voracious and permissive woman of misogynist discourse; on the other hand, the assertive stance she takes on her right to enjoy sex and her refusal to be submissive to a husband are sometimes read as articulations of a kind of proto-feminism. Her tale continues this double posture. In it, a knight is sent on a mission to answer the question “What do women really want?” as punishment for raping a maiden. A hideous old woman promises the answer in exchange for marriage. He reluctantly agrees, and she supplies him with the answer: sovereignty. She then transforms into a beautiful young woman.

 

 

The Pardoner's Tale

 

The Pardoner is androgynous and his sexuality is ambiguous. His tale is an allegory of greed and treachery. Three young drinking partners go in search of Death, which they find in the form of buried treasure. They agree to share the loot but quickly contrive to murder each other in order to increase their personal shares, and in the end they do find death—at each other's hands.

 

 

The Nun's Priest's Tale

 

This tale is most significant from ETS's perspective because of its form: it is a beast fable that follows the adventures of the cock Chanticleer and the wily fox that beguiles him.

 

WILLIAM LANGLAND

 

Langland, a contemporary of Chaucer, wrote
Piers Plowman
in alliterative verse, a throwback to earlier works like
Beowulf. Piers Plowman
is a series of allegorical visions wherein a protagonist, Will, seeks Truth.

 

 

JOHN GOWER

 

Gower is another contemporary of Chaucer. He is less likely to appear on the test, but it is useful to be able to place him as an important Middle English writer who produced the
Confessio Amantis
, a long discourse on the fortunes of lovers, told with a strong moral didacticism.

 

 

SIR THOMAS MALORY

 

Despite the French title of his major work,
Le Morte D'Arthur
, Malory's epic telling of the story of King Arthur is written in Late Middle English. It is an important work that can be differentiated from the many other famous Arthurian tales likely to be on the exam (such as Tennyson's
Idylls of the King
and parts of Spenser's “The Faerie Queene”) because it is written in prose rather than poetry.

Drill Questions

• 1. Which of the following tales is a beast fable?
  
  1. “The Knight's Tale”
     
  2. “The Nun's Priest's Tale”
     
  3. “The Miller's Tale”
     
  4. “The Pardoner's Tale”
     
  5. “The Wife of Bath's Tale”
     

“Now let's be silent,” said Truth. “It seems to me I see
Out of the nip of the north, not far from here,
Righteousness come running—let's wait right here,
For she knows far more than we—she was here before us both.”
“That is so,” said Mercy, “and I see here to the south
Where Peace clothed in patience comes sportively this way.”

• 2. This modernized passage is taken from
  
  1. William Langland's
     Piers Plowman.
     
  2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
     
  3. Chaucer's “The Reeve's Tale.”
     
  4. Chaucer's “The Knight's Tale.”
     
  5. Sir Thomas Malory's
     Le Morte D'Arthur.
     

The literature of the English Renaissance holds an important place in the English literary canon, and will take up a significant portion of the Subject Test. Below, we list several of the major figures and their best-known works. Most of these writers are primarily lyric poets so it is not possible to adequately summarize their works here—you will need to review the poets and poems we suggest in order to get a proper feel for the stylistic achievements of the period.

 

 

EDMUND SPENSER

 

Spenser is best known for his epic poem “The Faerie Queene.” You should know that this project was never completed, and that it was largely a paean to Queen Elizabeth. “The Faerie Queene” is divided into six books, and is an allegory that follows the adventures of various knights, each representing a moral virtue. For instance,
Book I
tells the story of the Redcrosse Knight, the Knight of Holiness, while
Book V
tells the story of Artegall, the Knight of Justice. Loosely organizing the disparate tales is the figure of Prince Arthur, who makes brief appearances in each book and represents Magnificence, the perfection of mastering all the virtues.

Identifying Spenser is easy if you remember a few important things. First, you should keep in mind that for aesthetic reasons, Spenser deliberately wrote in archaic language, using Chaucerian diction and spelling. Also, Spenser developed what we now call the Spenserian stanza, a form that ETS often asks test-takers to identify. Spenserian stanza has been imitated by subsequent authors, but Spenser is almost always easy to spot because of his unusual spelling and word choice. The Spenserian stanza consists of nine lines that follow an
ababbcbcc
rhyme pattern. You should also be able to recognize that the Spenserian stanza ends with an alexandrine, a line in iambic hexameter, meaning that there are six syllables per unit rather than the five that comprise the iambic pentameter of the first eight lines.

 

 

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

 

Marlowe did not produce many plays or poems, but his work exerted a strong influence over his contemporaries, particularly Shakespeare. Marlowe was bold in both style and content. He employed blank verse to such effect in his plays that it became the dominant mode of stage poetry. His long poem “Hero and Leander” retells a famous legend of tragic Greek lovers, while his
Dr. Faustus
tells the powerful story of a man who sells his soul to the devil. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a brief lyrical poem with which you should familiarize yourself. You should be able to recognize the basic plot of
Dr. Faustus
and the name Mephistopheles, the satanic agent with whom Faustus deals.

 

 

DONNE, JONSON, HERBERT, AND HERRICK

 

Except for Ben Jonson, who also produced several noteworthy plays, these are primarily lyric poets. John Donne, in particular, is an important figure and we suggest you carefully read all of the following poems, as well as any other Donne works you have time to look over: “The Canonization,” “The Flea,” “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” “The Sun Rising,” and “Air and Angels.” You should also take a look at some of his
Holy Sonnets
, in particular number 14, “Batter my heart.” Donne is famous for his use of the metaphysical conceit—the witty comparison of unlike things. He is a highly intellectual poet, and his works can often be identified for his frequent allusions to science and alchemy. Donne's “Batter my heart” also shows a masterful use of
caesura
. Defined as a pause in the middle of a line of poetry, caesura brings variety to a poem's rhythm and adds emphasis to the words it surrounds. Read the following two lines from this sonnet as an example.

Jonson's “To the Memory of My Beloved Master William Shakespeare” is a popular poem with ETS. You should read and remember its famous lines, in particular “He was not of an age, but for all time!” Jonson's poem “To Penshurst” is also worth reading as an example of the country-house genre of poems popular in the early seventeenth century. ETS occasionally will refer to his play
Volpone
, a comedy about a diverse group of scoundrels all out to swindle each other, and how the chief swindler, the title character (which means “fox”) gets his just desserts at the end.

George Herbert wrote exclusively religious poems. He makes frequent use of metaphysical conceit, and his poems are often elaborate comparisons between objects or conditions and the relationship between humans and God. Read “The Pulley,” “The Collar,” and the “Prayer” poems. You should also be able to visually recognize his famous “shaped” poems: “The Altar,” and “Easter Wings.”

Robert Herrick is most famous for the line “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” from his poem “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.” Look at his “Corrinna's Going A-Maying” for further work with the
carpe diem
theme. You should also become familiar with his several “Julia” poems, which were widely imitated by his successors.

 

ANDREW MARVELL

 

Marvell is best known for his poem “To His Coy Mistress.” You should study this poem carefully, as well as his “Mower” poems and his poem in praise of Milton's
Paradise Lost.

 

 

JOHN MILTON

 

Milton has a few famous sonnets and lyric poems, but ETS is most concerned with
Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost
is one of the most frequently alluded to works in English literature. Its influence is enormous and you should be familiar with it. If you can't read all of it, we strongly recommend that you read the first two books to get a feel for Milton's style and diction, both of which are unusual. Milton is famous for his frequent use of Latinate and Greek words and for his sometimes confusing word order.
Paradise Lost
is Milton's epic of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as well as the titanic war in heaven and the expulsion of Satan and the rebel angels. Adam, Eve, Satan, God, Jesus, and the angel Raphael all make appearances.

 

 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 

At the center of the English literary canon is William Shakespeare. It is absolutely necessary that you be familiar with Shakespeare's work, although ETS does tend to concentrate on his better-known plays, so that an ability to recognize some names and plots can take the place of trying to make it through the entire Shakespeare canon. In addition to getting to know the plays listed here, you should become familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets, as well. They are popular with ETS as identifications, and in terms of form and content have exerted a strong influence over subsequent poets.

 

 

Hamlet

 

The most famous of Shakespeare's plays,
Hamlet
, is the story of a young man whose uncle has murdered his father and married his mother. The murdered father's ghost has visited Hamlet and demands revenge. The major characters are Hamlet, his father Old Hamlet, his uncle Claudius, his mother Gertrude, the advisor Polonius, Polonius's daughter Ophelia, Hamlet's friend Horatio, and the bumbling agents of the king, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. You should read this play and be familiar with some of the major soliloquies, such as “To be or not to be,” and “Oh that this too too sullied flesh would melt.”

 

King Lear

 

A popular play with ETS, this tragedy concerns the old King's decision to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia. Lear rashly banishes Cordelia because of her refusal to engage in hyperbolic flattery, and divides the kingdom between the two remaining daughters. The division of the kingdom is a disaster, and King Lear finds himself alienated from Cordelia and at odds with Regan and Goneril. Accompanied by his Fool and Poor Tom (a nobleman named Edgar in disguise), he goes mad and takes up residence in a desolate heath. Cordelia, ever loyal, returns with her husband, the French King, and an army to retake the land from her sisters and to rescue her father. The invasion fails and she is killed at the order of the bastard Edmund. Lear dies of grief.

 

 

Othello

 

Another tragedy,
Othello
tells the story of a Moor who marries a white Venetian noblewoman, Desdemona, against the wishes of her father. The action is then moved to Cyprus, where the sinister Iago, one of Shakespeare's most famous and compelling figures, poisons Othello's mind against his new wife. Through a series of coincidences and intricate plots set by Iago, Othello becomes convinced that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with his officer Cassio. He then strangles her in her bed. Iago's treachery is revealed and the Moor kills himself, pronouncing that he has loved “not wisely, but too well.”

 

 

Henry IV, Part I

 

A popular play among Shakespeare scholars,
Henry IV
contains one of Shakespeare's most popular characters, the fat knight Falstaff. Falstaff is an eloquent and witty figure who also happens to be a notorious liar and coward. Falstaff is a frequent answer to identification questions on the Subject Test— you can usually identify him by his sarcastic and yet articulate rationalizations of his own shameful behavior. The play's other main figures are the young Prince Hal, the king's prodigal son and Falstaff's boon companion who eventually comes into his own as the “true prince,” and Hal's rival Hotspur, who is leading a rebellion against the king. Hotspur is killed and the main part of the rebellion is put down as the play ends.

 

 

The Merchant of Venice

 

This play is famous for two characters in particular, the bold and intelligent heroine, Portia, and the compelling old Jew, Shylock. The plot revolves around Shylock's attempts to extract a cruel debt—a pound of flesh—from Antonio, a Venetian merchant. Portia, engaged to Antonio's best friend Bassanio, saves the day by going in disguise as a lawyer and turning the tables on Shylock in a dramatic court scene. In the end, Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity and forfeit his fortune, which he values above all things with miserly delight. The play is difficult because of the simultaneously sympathetic and anti-Semitic portrait it renders of Shylock and because it perennially vexes definitive interpretation. Was Shakespeare, like virtually all of his contemporaries, convinced of the inherent depravity of Jews and using his play as a vehicle to reiterate this commonplace, or was he attempting to make audiences question such practices? Particularly important for this debate is Shylock's famous speech in Act III, Scene i that begins “Hath not a Jew eyes?” Read and remember these lines. They are famous in and of themselves, and are often alluded to as a way of commenting on the things that unite all human beings. Equally famous and worth reviewing is Portia's “The quality of mercy” speech from Act IV, Scene i.

 

 

The Tempest

 

This is an increasingly popular play due to the growing interest in the history of European imperialism and postcolonial theory. The main characters are the exiled Duke of Milan, Prospero, his daughter Miranda, and a “deformed slave,” Caliban. Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban are the sole inhabitants of an enchanted island, where Prospero practices magic and schemes to regain his dukedom by orchestrating the shipwreck of his usurping brother. By the play's end, he does regain his position and marries his daughter to the son of the King of Naples. Caliban is native to the island, and in a few important formulations, makes an early, eloquent case against colonialism.

Drill Questions

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April (dress'd in all his trim)
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leapt with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
5
Of different flowers in odor and hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew;
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermillion in the rose,
10
They were sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

1. The referent of “these” in line 14 is
   
   1. birds.
      
   2. stories.
      
   3. flowers.
      
   4. colors.
      
   5. winter and spring.
      
2. The author of this poem also wrote
   
   1. “The Faerie Queene.”
      
   2. Paradise Lost.
      
   3. Pamphilia to Amphilanthus.
      
   4. The Winter's Tale.
      
   5. “To His Coy Mistress.”