ELA TeXes practice 1
This poem reflects a thematic tradition known as: a. Carpe diem b. Classicism c. Cinquain d. Conceit
a. Carpe Diem (Time flies and we must seize the day) (Classicism reflects roman and grecian beauty (Pope and Dryden) (Cinquain is a 5 line poem) (Conceit is a poem about dissimilar things (Shakespeare's sonnet #8 ex: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?))
IN which of the following forms is this poem written? a. Free verse b. Rhymed and metered c. Unrhymed and metered d. rhymed and unmetered
a. free verse Not consistent rhymes, therefore it is happenstance and free verse
Questions 46-50 refer to the following excerpts: "I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall ear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me." "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown." What is the title of the work from which these excerpts are taken? a. "The Waste Land" b. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" c. "Notes Toward the Definition of Culture" d. "The Hollow Men" BONUS: who is the author
b. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" BONUS: T.S Eliot
The excerpted work was published in which century? a. 18th b. 19th c. 20th d. 21st
b. 19th
What is described in the fifth stanza? a. A home b. A grave c. a church d. A school
b. A grave
Questions 1-3 Refer to the following excerpt: "Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day. But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity." Who is the author of this poem? a. John Donne b. Andrew Marvell c. George Herbert d. Henry Vaughan Bonus: What is the title of this poem?
b. Andrew Marvell (a, c, and d are 17th century poets) Bonus: "To His Coy Mistress"
Questions 23 - 24 are based on the following excerpt: Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. This is the first stanza of a poem written by... a. Andrew Marvell b. Christopher Marlowe c. Sir Walter Raleigh d. William Shakespeare Bonus: What century and title of poem
b. Christopher Marlowe a. Andrew Marvell wrote metaphysical primarily, but also similar poems like "The Garden." Born a century later c. Sir Walter Raleigh was more contemporary, wrote "The nymph's reply to the shepherd" d. William Shakespeare wrote "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" Bonus: 16th century, "The Passionate Shepherd to His love"
In this book, Plath uses a bell jar to symbolize... a. The strictures of reality b. Her own mental illness c. a case of writer's block d. A disorder of breathing
b. Her own mental illness a. She is not confined by reality, but mental illness c. Not the bell jar, but a symptom of it d. not literal
Questions 11 - 13 refer to the following excerpt: I AM assured by our Merchants, that a Boy or a Girl before twelve Years old, is no saleable Commodity; and even when they come to this Age, they will not yield above (an amount of money) at most, on the Exchange; which cannot turn to Account... to the Parents...; the Charge of Nutriment and Rags, having been at least four Times that Value. I SHALL now therefore humbly propose my own Thoughts; which I hope will not be liable to the least Objection. I HAVE been assured by a very knowing American of my Acquaintance in London; that a young healthy Child, well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome Food; whether Stewed, Roasted, Baked, or Boiled; and, I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or Ragoust. The literary form used by the excerpted piece is a. Persuasion b. Satire c. Exposition d. Bathos Bonus: Name and title of the excerpt
b. Satire (Mocked the way the British viewed the Irish) a. (Clearly not persuading to anything) c. Exposition is nearly always straightforward d. Bathos is a literary mood that exaggerates emotion directing from melancholy to to ridiculous Bonus: "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
Questions 54-56 are based on the following poem: Leda and the Swan "A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory fro her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead. Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent break could let her drop? "The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead" refer to... a. The Punic Wars b. The Trojan War. c. The Peloponnesian War d. A murder but no war. BONUS: Who is the author
b. The Trojan War BONUS: William Butler Yeats
Which of the following is the best interpretation of the final line? a. Mermaids protect us from drowning; humans ruin it. b. The dream of art is ruined by the intrusion of reality c. Dreaming of mermaids is part of death by drowning d. Mermaids bewitch us from knowing that we drown
b. The dream of art is ruined by the intrusion of reality
Which of the excerpted poems focus on the nature of reality vs. the imagination? a. The second and third b. The first and second c. The first and third d. All three
b. The first and second the first poem "The Waking", is a meditation on nature of waking reality vs. dreaming imagination The second "Mad Girl's Love Song" contemplates the nature of reality vs. imagination through the existentialist argument, we construct and destroy our own realities, nothing objective exists beyond this. The third, "Do not go gentle into that good night" focuses on how the dying should approach death
Which of the following best characterizes how this poem portrays the creative process? A. the poet exercises tight control of a thought b. The poet is a passive recipient of the thought c. The poet carefully guides the thought to him d. The poet imagines a fox to help him write.
b. The poet is a passive recipient of the thought The fox comes from outside, not inside. Hughes uses extensive passive voice, the speaker does not control the fox
Which of the following works was the first ever published in vernacular Italian? a. "De re publica" ("On the Republic") by Marcus Tullius Cicero b. "Il Decameron" ("The Decameron") by Giovanni Bocaccio c. "La Divina Commedia" ("The Divine Comedy") by Dante Alighieri d. "Il Nome della Rosa" ("The Name of the Rose") by Umberto Eco
c.
Questions 18 - 20 refer to the following excerpts: I knew I should be grateful to MRs. Guinea, only I couldn't feel a thing. If Mrs. Guinea had given me a ticket to Europe, or a round-the-world cruise, it wouldn't have made one scrap of difference to me, because wherever I sat - on the deck of a ship or at a street cafe in Paris of Bangkok- I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air. I sank back in the gray, plush seat and closed my eyes. The air of the bell jar wadded round me and I couldn't stir. (Following a successful shock treatment:) All the heat and fear had purged itself. I felt surprisingly at peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few feet above my head. I was open to the circulating air. "We'll take up where we left off, Esther," she (my Mother) had said, with her sweet, martyr's smile. "we'll act as if all this were a bad dream." A bad dream. To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream. Valerie's last, cheerful cry had been "So long! Be seeing you." "Not if I know it," I thought. But I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure at all. How did I know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again? The bell jar the author refers to is an example of which literary device? a. A simile b. an allusion c. a metaphor d. Personification Bonus: Name of work and Author?
c. A metaphor a. Simile's use like or as b. an allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, or piece of literature d. Personification is attributing human features to an inhuman animal or object Bonus: "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath (20th c)
The second excerpt is speaking about - a. Indecision b. A vacation c. Mortality d. Drowning
c. Mortality
Which of these does the poem really describe? A. The process of a fox's natural actions b. The process of being inspired by nature c. The process of being inspired to write d. The process of being attacked by a fox
c. The process of being inspired to write a. Not literal b. Not inspired by nature d. Not literal
Questions 27 - 29 refer to the following excerpts: [First stanza:] I wake tot sleep, and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I have to go. [Last stanza:] This shaking keeps me steady. I should know. What falls away is always. And is near. I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go." (From "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke 1937) [FIrst stanza:] I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head.) [Last stanza:] I should have loved a thunderbird instead; At least when spring comes they roar back again. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. (I think i made you up inside my head.) (From "Mad Girl's Love Song by Sylvia Plath 1954) [First stanza:] Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. [Last stanza:] And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." (From "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, 1951) Which is true of all three excerpted poems? a. They are all ballads. b. They are all sonnets. c. They are all villanelles. d. They are all different forms.
c. They are all villanelles a. ballads typically have have ABAB lines in quatrains b. Sonnets are in 14 lines c. Villanelles have nineteen lines with five three-line stanzas, and an ending an ending quatrain (Four-line stanza). Villanelles also include a lot of repetition.
The author of the excerpted piece also wrote which of the following? a. The Canterbury Tales b. The Faerie Queene c. Paradise Lost d. Gulliver's Travels
d. Gulliver's Travels (Satire on human behavior and travel) (Jonathan Swift) a. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer, 14th c b. The Faerie Queene - Edmund Spencer, 16th c c. Paradise Lost - John Milton, 17th C
Questions 14 - 17 Refer to the following poem: The Thought Fox I imagine this midnight moment's forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock's loneliness And this blank page where my fingers move. Though the window I see no star: Something more near Though deeper within darkness Is entering the loneliness: Cold, delicately as the dark snow A fox's nose touches twig, leaf; Two eyes serve a movement, that now Sets neat prints into the snow Between trees, and warily a lame Shadow lags by stump and in hollow Of a body that is bold to come Across clearings, and eye, A widening deepening greenness, Brilliantly, concentratedly, Coming about its own business Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox, It enters the dark hole of the head. The window is starless still; the clock ticks, The page is printed. The primary literary device used by the poet here is... a. Foreshadowing b. Irony c. Cliche d. Metaphor Bonus: Who wrote this poem?
d. Metaphor a. Foreshadowing is a device to hint at something that will occur later b. Irony is used to create a discrepancy btween what is expected and what really occurs C. the author is notable for NEVER using overused expressions, or cliches Bonus: Ted Hughes
What is the meter of the couplets in this poem? a. Pentameter b. Heptameter c. Hexameter d. Tetrameter
four beats per line
A distinguishing feature of the form known as haiku is... a. 5/7/5 syllables per line b. An ABA rhyme scheme c. Perfectly regular meter d. Lengthy epic narratives
A
Which literary device is shown in the third line of the excerpted stanza? a. Alliteration b. Hyperbole c. Onomatopoeia d. Metonymy
A. Alliteration (Same sound or letter, in this case it is the "K" sound) b. Hyperbole is the device of exaggeration c. onomatopoeia is a written sound like "Clang of the Bell" or "Gun went Bang" d. Metonymy is referring to a noun that is associated w/ another thing such as "The White House" or "Big Brother" referring to the government
Why does the speaker say, "I do not think that they will sing to me"? a. Because he feels the despair of existence b. Because he is becoming deaf with old age . c. Because he knows mermaids are not real d. Because he is on the beach, not in the sea
A. Because he feels the despair of existence
Which of the following was the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress?" A. John Bunyan B. WIlliam Congreve C. Daniel Defoe D. Samuel Butler
A. John Bunyan b. William Congreve "The Way of the World" c. Daniel Defore - "Robinson Crusoe + Adventure novels d. Samuel butler "Hudibras"
The author of the excerpted work is famous for using a literary technique known as... a. Stream-of-consciousness. b. The unreliable narrator c. First-person narration d. The author surrogate
A. Stream-of-consciousness (Joyce is famous for using SoC in his novels, as seen in Ulysses and FInnegans Wake. (B. is a technique used often in murder mysteries, like Edgar Allen Poe in "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," and many other stories and by Agatha Christie in "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Joyce never uses this. (C. Joyce used third-person narration and often included soliloquies, but is not famous for using fire-person narration) (D. an example of Surrogate is Socrates in Plato's works; Joyce doesn't really use this)
Which of the excerpted poems deal(s) directly with the subject of death? a. The third b. The second and third c. The first and third d. All three
A. The third (This is the only one dealing explicitly and directly with death) In the second poem, the speaker may use the words "drops dead" and "born again," but this is not death, rather it is the idea that reality is what we perceive or imagine. The first poem is not direct, more of the idea
Which of the following accurately identifies The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank? a. A fictional novel by a 1920s American debutante's diary b. A non-fictional Dutch journal influenced by WWII c. A long, episodic poem depicting childhood schizophrenia d. A British record documenting a sociological diary project
B
What is the source of the phrase "And neigh like the Boanerges" in the last stanza? a. The Greek myth about a creature that inhabits Hades b. A new testament reference to a fiery, strong-voiced preacher/orator c. An Old Testament reference to a wrathful prophet seeking vengeance d. A roman name for a mythological animal that lived within a labyrinth
B.
Questions 4 - 7 are based on the following excerpt: "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs." This is the opening sentence of... a. Ulysses b. Finnegans Wake c. Adventures in the Skin Trade d. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Bonus: Who is the author of this and what else did he write?
B. Finnegans Wake Bonus: James Joyce (James Joyce also wrote Adventures in the Skin Trade and Ulysses, in that order) (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was written by Dylan Thomas in 1938)
William Shakespeare wrote during which historical and literary period? A. Medieval B. Renaissance C. Restoration D. Enlightenment
B. Renaissance a. Geoffrey Chaucer, Pearl Poet, Dante Alighieri, Sir Thomas Mallory c. John Dryden D. Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, James Boswell
Which of the following is the best interpretation of the excerpted lines? a. The poet means that he will be dead and buried in the future. b. The poet means he is one with and an integral part of nature c. The poet means the person addressed is above him in station d. The poet means the recipient stepped on/walked all over him
B. The poet means he is one with and an integral part of nature -Walt Whitman talks frequently about this
Questions 30-35 refer to the following poem: "I like to see it lap the Miles - And lick the Valleys up - And stop to feed itself at Tanks - And then - prodigious step Around a pile of Mountains - And supercilious peer In Shanties - by the sides of Roads - And then a Quarry pare To fit its Ribs And crawl between Complaining all the while In horrid - hooting stanza - Then chase itself down Hill - And nigh like Boanerges - Then - punctual as a Star Stop - docile and omnipotent At its own stable door -" This poem describes which of the following A. An aristocratic thoroughbred horse B. The recently invented railroad train c. An incredible mythological monster d. The subject cannot be determined
B. The recently invented railroad train
Questions 43-45 refer to the following excerpt: "I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles." What is the title of the poem from which this is taken? a. "To You" b. "Thou Reader" c. "Song of Myself" d. "One's Self I Sing" BONUS: Who wrote the poem?
C. "Song of Myself" BONUS: All the above were written by Walt Whitman Song of Myself is the longest and most famous poem
Which of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is an example of the literary form known as the fabliau? a. "The Physician's Tale" b. "The Wife of Bath's Tale" c. "The Miller's Tale" d. "The Pardoner's Tale"
C. "The Miller's Tale -Fabliau: Humerous story that includes an indecent event
The excerpted work was published in which century? A. 20th B. 19th C. 18th D. 17th
C. 18th - Most of Jonathan Swift's literature was written in the 18th century
Why does this opening sentence begin with an uncapitalized word? a. This is to make it stand out to the reader b. It is the continuation of the author's previous novel c. It forms the completion of the novel's unfinished last sentence d. A typesetting error in the original edition was preserved in perpetuity
C. It forms the completion of the novel's unfinished last sentence. (This is the cyclical nature of the book, to show that everything repeats itself) (A. is simply incorrect) (B. it is not a continuation of Ulysses) (D. This is simply not an error)
Irrespective of its topic, the tone of this poem would best be described as.... a. Serious, grave, and portentously dark b. Detached, alienated, and numb of feeling c. Lighthearted, humorous, and gently ironic d. Frantic, agitated, and with a frenzy of fear
C. Lighthearted, humorous, and gently ironic
The line "Let be be finale of seem" can be interpreted as reflecting a concept from which of the following? a. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" b. Dante's "Divine Comedy" c. Plato's "Dialogues" d. Homer's "Iliad"
C. Plato's "Dialogues" (Plato's Dialogues Refers to the Nature of Reality) a. Metamorphoses is about the creation of the world b. Divine Comedy is about a journey through the afterlife d. Iliad is a journey home from war, which is allegory for every man's journey
This poet famously used dashes for __________ and capitals for _______. a. Punctuation; honor b. Separation; names c. Prosody; emphasis d. Continuity; names BONUS: Who is the author
C. Prosody; emphasis Prosody is the sounds and rhythm of poetry BONUS: Emily Dickinson is famous for this
An amazing feat in this poem is that the structure of the subject described is mirrored in the poem's... a. Vocabulary b. Rhythms c. Syntax d. Tone
C. Syntax The author uses the sentence structure to mirror a train engine (Subject and predicate) pulling the train behind it.
Question 41 refers to the following excerpt: "When I got to camp I warn't feeling very brash, there warn't much sand in my craw; but I says, this ain't no time to be fooling around. So I got all my traps into my canoe again so as to have them out of sight, and I put out the fire and scattered the ashes around to look like an old last-year's camp, and then climb a tree." This passage is taken from which of the following? a. The Mysterious Stranger b. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer c. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn d. The Prince and the Pauper BONUS: Who is the author?
C. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Bonus: Mark twain wrote all the answer choices (Mary Twain uses first-person southern dialogue in this novel) A. The Mysterious Strangers is also a first-person narrative written in the literate language of the narrator, while the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is written in uneducated Southern dialect B. Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a third-person narrative D. The Prince and the Pauper is also a third-person narrative
The rhyme scheme of this stanza is... a. abab b. abba c. aabb d. abcd
C. aabb
Which of the following pairs are NOT both written in the form of frame tales? a. "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer and "The Decameron" by Giovanni Bocaccio b. The "Mahabharata" by Veda Vyasa and "The Parlement of Foules" by Geoffrey Chaucer c. "Frankenstein" by Mary W. Shelley and "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte d. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf
D. -Neither are frame tales
The legend of Faust has been treated in literature by which of the following? A. Christopher Marlowe B. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe C. Thomas Mann D. All of the Above
D. Faust is the tale of a man who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge
Questions 8-10 refer to the following excerpt: "Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds. Let the wenches dawdle in such dress As they are used to wear, and let the boys Bring flowers in last month's newspapers. Let be be finale of seem. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream" The excerpted poem was written in... a. 17th century b. 18th century c. 19th century d. 20th century Bonus: Title of poem and author
D. 20th Century (You can tell based on the style of the poem it is from modern poetry - specifically the early 1900's) Bonus: "Emperor of Ice Cream" by Wallace Stevens
In the excerpted sentence, the "vicus" represents which of the following? a. Vicinity b. Vico Way c. Giambattista Vico d. All of the above
D. All of the above ("Vicus" means vicinity in Latin; to refer to Vico Way, which is the name of the shore road running alongside of Dublin Bay; and to allude to Giambattista Vico, an Italian Philosopher who espoused the cyclic theory of history, a theme in Joyce's novel
The adjectives "docile and omnipotent" in the penultimate line were chosen because they are... a. Synonymous b. Nonsensical c. Mechanical d. Contrasting
D. Contrasting
Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding the characters of Drouet and Hurstwood in Theodore Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie?" a. Drouet has the awareness to be decent but he lacks the morality b. Hurstwood has the morality, but not the awareness, for decency. c. Only one of these characters is representative of the middle class d. Drouet is morally decent but unaware; Hurstwood is the opposite.
D. Drouet is morally decent but unaware; Hurstwood is the opposite In "Sister Carrie" (1900), Drouet is basically a decent person but is deficient in the intelligence or awareness for moral behavior. Therefore, choice A is incorrect. Hurstwood, by contrast, has the intelligence to understand moral behavior, and his awareness allows him to reject his family's superficial values. However, the moral deficiencies of his own character allow him to behave immorally. Therefore, option B is incorrect. In their attitudes toward women, both characters represent the middle class of the time; therefore, choice C is incorrect.
Of the following works by Alexander Pope, which was written in prose? A. "An Essay on Criticism" B. "The Rape of the Lock" C. "The Universal Prayer" D. None of the above
D. None of the above ALL of Pope's work is poetry
Questions 36 - 38 refer to the following poem: "Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me - The Carriage held but just Ourselves - And Immortality. We slowly drove = He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility- We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess - in the Ring - We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain - We passed the Setting Sun - Or rather - He passed Us - The Dews drew quivering and chill - For only Gossamer, my Gown - My Tippet - only TUlle - We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground - The Roof was scarcely visible - The Cornice - in the Ground - Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity -" The descriptions of Death, of the "Fields of Gazing Grain," and of the setting sun all employ which literary device? a. Analogy b. Hyperbole c. Alliteration d. Personification BONUS: who is the author of the poem?
D. Personification Bonus: Emily Dickinson
Which of the following statements is accurate about Sylvia Plath? a. "The Bell Jar" was her last in a long series of novels, all of them successful. b. She ultimately recovered, lived a long life, and wrote many more novels c. Plath wrote only a few poems, but "The Bell Jar" was the first of her books d. She wrote "The Bell Jar" about her initial breakdown almost a decade later.
D. She wrote TBJ about her initial breakdown almost a decade later a. TBJ is the only novel b. Did not recover, committed suicide c. Many poems, one novel
This poem was written around the time of... a. The American Revolution B. The French Revolution c. The war of 1812 d. The Civil War BONUS: What year was this written
D. The Civil War`
Which of the following is/are the best interpretation(s) of the meaning in the first excerpt? a. The speaker's existence is as significant as the life of a crab. b. The speaker loves the sea and wishes he could live under it. c. The scavenger can create beauty by reconstructing garbage. d. The answers choices in (A) and (C) are valid interpretations
D. The answers choices in (A) and (C) are valid interpretations
