GRE Literature in English (REA) (54 page)

 

81.
(C)

This is a type of fiction that was popularized and inspired by the
Arabian Nights
. Parables (A) often do not employ historical figures. A
roman a clef
(D) usually involves an allusion to a contemporary of the author, and the name does not seem biblical (B).

 

82.
(C)

This passage is from
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
. The didactic nature of the piece points to Johnson, but also readily eliminates Congreve (A) who is better known for his comedies, and the satirical writer Swift (B). Boswell (D) is best known for his biography on Johnson, while Gray (E) was a great influence on the poets of the Romantic era.

 

83.
(C)

This passage is from
The Preface to Shakespeare
. After half a millenium, debates on the greatness of Shakespeare—where they have ever existed—have now almost passed from the critical scene.

 

84.
(D)

Johnson wrote a century and a half after Shakespeare's death. Although the tone of the passage points to Johnson, if one is aware that the poet being talked about is Shakespeare, one can eliminate other answers based upon the time the passage was written.

 

85.
(B)

This is from
Adam Bede
, although the minute attention to domestic details is characteristic of Austen as well. The pastoral farm house does not match the city descriptions of Dickens (C) and Hardy (D), nor does it match the fierce Yukon settings of most of London's (E) work.

 

86.
(C)

Ruskin's prose, the author says, should be looked at as an art form itself. The author's commentary on views indicates that what is being examined is the criticism itself, not the artist (“Turner”).

 

87.
(D)

In The
Critic as Artist
, Wilde uses a typical tone of chatty debate and forceful impressionistic language. Arnold (A) and Pater (C) are also known for their excellent literary criticism but were more concerned with the function of criticism, rather than criticism as a form of art.

 

88.
(C)

Prominent among the devices employed here is the repetition of initial sound: “foam-fretted feet” (line 4), “shaken shadow” (line 7), “soul the soft surprise” (line 10). The passage has many examples of repeating consonant sounds rather than vowel sounds (B), and the words have meaning, which eliminates answer (E).

 

89.
(E)

The poet's relationship has been called (presumably by his lover) “No-more,” but he does not accept this. He only looks for a sign of hope (a “dart through thy soul”), and then, he tells her, he will smile again. Answer (B) is a trap to the reader who pays attention to the more famous first four lines, but does not look to the meaning of the entire passage.

 

90.
(D)

This is from “A Superscription.” Note especially Rossetti's fine use of metaphor. The display of traditional Romantic emotion does not match the sometimes jarring prose of Browning (A) or the idyllic Tennyson (B). W. S. Gilbert (E) is best known for the comic operas he wrote with Sir Arthur Sullivan.

 

91.
(C)

The poet, commenting on the new American mission, refers to the “Old World.” The verse implies that the “elder races” have nothing left to explore, and that the new “pioneers” must take up the task now that there is uncharted space before them.

 

92.
(C)

In “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” free verse and patriotic theme, amplified by frequent use of exclamation marks, are clues to the origin. The celebratory tone does not match the contemplative Emerson (B), while Whittier (A) and Channing (E) are better known for their anti-slavery writings. Noyes (D) was a British poet.

 

93.
(B)

The proper name “Glumdalclitch” and the quasi-reportorial tone of the passage are clues to this tale of adventure. The mystical land is too earthly for Hades (A) and Wonderland (C), but too fantastic for (D) and (E).

 

94.
(C)

The dwarf, a seeming supplicant to the Queen, would have been dismissed; “cashiered” still retains most of its original meaning. Although (A) and (E) might seem similar in meaning, it can be derived from the passage that “cashiered” has a negative connotation.

 

95.
(C)

This passage is from
Gulliver's Travels
. As before, the passage seems a bit too serious to be written by Carroll (A), but too fantastic for science fiction [(B), (D), and (E)].

 

96.
(D)

In “The Author's Epitaph, Made by Himself,” note the heavy beat, the morbid imagery, and the barely hopeful tone. The passage is more resigned in tone than (A) or (E), which are also pieces that lament the loss of a loved one.

 

97.
(B)

Time takes in trust (and delivers death); only the Lord can undo the process. Although death's important in this poem, it is not displayed as an active force, so the other four choices can be eliminated.

 

98.
(C)

The poem is supposed to have been written on the eve of his beheading in the Tower of London, although this has from time to time been contested. The resigned, subdued tone of the poem easily eliminates (A) and (B) as potential choices.

 

99.
(A)

This is by E. M. Forster. Note the enormous amount of “information” contained within the prose while, at the same time, the syntax remains tight. This is indicative of Forster and others of the early twentieth century.

 

100.
(D)

Immediately preceding this passage, the author said, “And whatever is me alive is me.” Blood and bones are in his hand, and he can see that if he cuts his hand open—proof positive of life. The passage does not debate the existence of the spiritual, but rather is interested in the spiritual power that can be found in the corporeal body.

 

101.
(D)

This is from Lawrence's
Why the Novel Matters
. Lawrence's use of repetition “alive... alive... alive” and the nature of these repetitions mark this passage as uniquely his. Lawrence was a firm believer in the force that could be taken up within the human body, and disputed the idea that the earthly and spiritual are separate.

 

102.
(D)

This passage is from Cervantes. The haplessness described in the father is about to devolve upon the son. David Copperfield (A) was an orphan who had no knowledge of who his father is, and the language is more refined than that used by Huckleberry Finn (B). Tess (C) descended from an English royal family, while Jean Valjean (E) is the unfortunate protagonist of
Les Miserables
.

 

103.
(C)

Levin's response to an intensity of feeling is about to be tested—a favorite theme of the author. The manner in which death is directly confronted is also a feature of Tolstoy, who would approach the subject again in The Death
of Ivan Ilych.

 

104.
(E)

Although the stream of time bears infinite tones, this passage has only one. The possibility of enmity exists, but the passage is mostly concerned with describing Ts'ui Pen's idea of time. It is clear in the passage that the speaker wishes to show a reality that the listener (and the audience) had never contemplated.

 

105.
(A)

This is from
The Garden of Forking Paths
. This passage does not become humorous or absurd, eliminating (B), (C), and (D). Atwood (E) is better known for the questioning of societal gender roles in her works.

 

106.
(C)

This is from
Time Must Have A Stop
. Note the analytic and precise description, indicative of a scientific mind at work. Huxley often expressed disillusionment through his characters.

 

107.
(B)

This is from
The Life You Save May Be Your Own
. The matronly woman often populates O'onnor's Southern Gothic stories.

 

108.
(D)

This is from
The Great Gatsby
. The lush description of Daisy's voice (“fluctuating, feverish,” “deathless song”) is a clue. The “rush of emotion” is also representative of the moments of true feeling that come through the boring activity of the society in which the characters live.

 

109.
(A)

This is from
The Bulgarian Poetess
. Politeness and decorum (as would be found in a meeting) are a thin haze over more serious and tumultuous concerns of civilization. The short, but sharp description of the action is characteristic of Updike.

 

110.
(C)

This is from
The Italian Villain
. The portraits of Lord Byron often included in anthologies are said by many to show these same features—the Byronic hero is as much based on the man as his work.

 

111.
(B)

A reading of Radcliffe's passage while viewing Byron's portraits is a lesson in her descriptive powers. The use of terms such as “gloom and severity” also point to Radcliffe, since she also utilized a dark tone in her Gothic novels.

 

112.
(D)

Villages, especially evident alongside “crofts” (small, farmed tracts of land). (B) and (C) can be readily eliminated as the poet is entering the realm of the uninhabitable, not leaving it. Citadels (E) are not typically “vulgar,” and corrals (A) usually are the tethers, not in them.

 

113.
(D)

It is the common nature of the details provided to contrast with the hint that the corpse belongs in a rare (also “thin” as air) atmosphere. The other four answers rely on a literal interpretation of the poem.

 

114.
(C)

From “A Grammarian's Funeral,” the passage demonstrates that Browning was a master of more lyrical forms as well as the free verse of his dramatic monologues. His jarring imagery also often deviated from the traditional images of his Victorian colleagues.

 

115.
(D)

This refers to a method of disgrace for knights; to be hung upside down by the heels. Falstaff is promising that he will carry out the task that he and the Prince have planned.

 

116.
(D)

The clues are “Gadshill,” a notorious hill outside London where robberies took place; taking a purse; and the command “stand,” as in “Stand and deliver! Your money or your life.” Since Falstaff is morally moving away “from” the act of praying, (A) is incorrect. It seems that the action is going to be a private one, so (C) and (E) may also be eliminated.

 

117.
(D)

It is also interpreted as “God's wounds!” As an exclamation, answer (B) is also similar in meaning, but (A), (C), and (E) have other connotations, so those three can be readily eliminated.

 

118.
(D)

The play on the word “ices” is a triple entendre. “Ices” in the seventeenth century was dessert, a term used like today's “as cold as ice,” and an obvious reference to a lack of hospitality.

 

119.
(D)

This passage is from
Walden
. Note the diarist's attention to detail mixed with Thoreau's perhaps overly high expectations for his fellow man. Emerson (A) and Whitman (C) are far more tolerant of other people, while Melville's style (B) is very complex compared to the passage. Channing's work (E) is characterized by his proselytizing fervor.

 

120.
(D)

The author is specific in the argument—not just in occupations, but in type. Although the last statement is a bit vague, it is not meant to imply that women are not equal in the general way answers (B) and (E) indicate.

 

121.
(A)

Undergarments (C) and flesh (D) cannot be furled, a pennant is inconsistent with the ocean imagery, and the sea is already at the shore (E) so folds of bright clothing is the most logical answer.