SAT II Literature : Literary Terminology and Devices

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 :Literary Terminology And Devices

1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."

"flesh's rage," (Line 7) is an example of__________.

Possible Answers:

metaphor

simile

Onomatopoeia

personification

alliteration

Correct answer:

personification

Explanation:

"flesh's rage," (Line 7) is an example of personification, giving an inanimate object or abstract idea a living quality.

Example Question #1 :Sat Subject Test In Literature

1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."

In lines 9–10, "Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, 'Here doth lie/Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,'" the speaker refers to his dead son as a "piece of poetry." This is an example of__________.

Possible Answers:

simile

spondee

caesura

personification

metaphor

Correct answer:

metaphor

Explanation:

When the speaker refers to his dead son as a "piece of poetry," (Line 10), this is an example of metaphor, a comparison made between two essentially unlike things.

Example Question #1 :Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2你更可爱、更温和的:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

“死神夸不着你在他影子里踯躅," (line 9) is an example of __________

Possible Answers:

consonance

satire

assonance

personification

alliteration

Correct answer:

personification

Explanation:

“死神夸不着你在他影子里踯躅," (line 9) is an example of personification, as personification is afigure of speech wherein an inanimate object or idea is endowed with human qualities or abilities. In this case, death is said to brag.

Example Question #4 :Literary Terminology And Devices

1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2你更可爱、更温和的:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

The speaker's claim that "this gives life to thee" in line 14 is arguably an example of __________.

Possible Answers:

metaphor

alliteration

personification

hyperbole

asyndeton

Correct answer:

hyperbole

Explanation:

The speaker's claim that "this gives life to thee" (line 14) is an example of hyperbole, as the speaker is making an exaggerated claim that his or her poetry will give the beloved immortality.

Example Question #1 :Literary Terminology And Devices

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
2 I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
3 My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
4 For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
5 I love thee to the level of everyday's
6 Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
7 I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
8 I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
9 I love thee with the passion put to use
10 In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
11 I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
12 With my lost saints – I love thee with the breath,
13 Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose,
14 I shall but love thee better after death.

This fourteen-line rhyming lyric poem is a typical.

Possible Answers:

elegy

limerick

haiku

sonnet

pastoral

Correct answer:

sonnet

Explanation:

This fourteen-line rhyming lyric poem is a typical sonnet written in iambic pentameter.

Example Question #1 :Literary Terminology Describing Poetry

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
2 I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
3 My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
4 For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
5 I love thee to the level of everyday's
6 Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
7 I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
8 I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
9 I love thee with the passion put to use
10 In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
11 I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
12 With my lost saints – I love thee with the breath,
13 Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose,
14 I shall but love thee better after death.

"I shall but love thee better after death," (line 14) can be described as.

Possible Answers:

a simile

asyndeton

metonymy

alliteration

hyperbole

Correct answer:

hyperbole

Explanation:

"I shall but love thee better after death," (line 14) can be described as hyperbole, as it is an exaggerated figure of speech.

Example Question #1 :Literary Terminology And Devices

Batter my heart (Holy Sonnet 14)

1 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
2,但敲门,呼吸,发光,并寻求我nd;
3 That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4 Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5 I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
6 Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
7 Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8 But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
9 Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
10 But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
12 Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13 Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

The only example of alliteration throughout this sonnet is.

Possible Answers:

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God;" (line 1)

"break, blow, burn," (line 4)

"Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again," (line 11)

"like an usurp'd town" (line 5)

"Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me." (line 14)

Correct answer:

"break, blow, burn," (line 4)

Explanation:

"break, blow, burn," (line 4) is the only example of alliteration throughout this sonnet, as each word has the same sound at its beginning.

Example Question #8 :Literary Terminology And Devices

1Whoever comes to shroud me, do not harm
2Nor question much
3That subtle wreath of hair, which crowns my arm;
4The mystery, the sign, you must not touch,
5For 'tis my outward soul,
6Viceroy to that, which then to heaven being gone,
7Will leave this to control
8And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.
9For if the sinewy thread my brain lets fall
10Through every part
11Can tie those parts, and make me one of all,
12Those hairs which upward grew, and strength and art
13Have from a better brain,
14Can better do'it; except she meant that I
15By this should know my pain,
16As prisoners then are manacled, when they'are condemn'd to die.
17Whate'er she meant by'it, bury it with me,
18For since I am
19Love's martyr, it might breed idolatry,
20If into other hands these relics came;
21As 'twas humility
22To afford to it all that a soul can do,
23So, 'tis some bravery,
24That since you would have none of me, I bury some of you.
(1633)

Which of the following are exhibit rhyme that is both slant rhyme and an end rhyme?

Possible Answers:

"gone" (line 6) and "dissolution" (line 8)

All of the answers

"part" (line 10) and "art" (line 12)

"harm" (line 1) and "arm" (line 3)

"fall" (line 9) and "all" (line 11)

Correct answer:

"gone" (line 6) and "dissolution" (line 8)

Explanation:

"Gone" (line 6) and "dissolution" (line 8) are examples of a slant rhyme and an end rhyme. "Slant rhymes" arerhymes with similar but not exactly the same sounds, and "end rhymes" arerhymes of the final syllables in two lines of poetry.

(Passage adapted from "The Funeral" by John Donne)

Example Question #1 :Sat Subject Test In Literature

1If but some vengeful god would call to me

2From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,

3Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,

4That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"

5Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,

6Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;

7Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I

8Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.

9But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,

10And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?

11—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,

12And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . .

13These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown

14Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

(1898)

"—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain" (line 11) is an example of___________.

Possible Answers:

simile

personification

apostrophe

metonym

metaphor

Correct answer:

personification

Explanation:

"—Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain" (line 11) is an example of personification, as "personification" isa figure of speech where an inanimate object or idea possesses human attributes or abilities. Here, "Casualty" (an idea) is obstructing the sun and rain. An idea cannot obstruct the sun or rain. Humans have the ability to obstruct objects, though they cannot obstruct the sun or rain.

(Passage adapted from "Hap" by Thomas Hardy)

Example Question #2 :Literary Terminology And Devices

Cupid, because thou shin'st in Stella's eyes

from Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella

1Cupid, because thou shin’st in Stella’s eyes,

2That from her locks, thy day-nets, none ‘scapes free,

3That those lips swell, so full of thee they be,

4That her sweet breath makes oft thy flames to rise,

5That in her breast thy pap well sugared lies,

6That her Grace gracious makes thy wrongs, that she

7What words so ere she speak persuades for thee,

8That her clear voice lifts thy fame to the skies:

9Thou countest Stella thine, like those whose powers

10Having got up a breach by fighting well,

11Cry, “Victory, this fair day all is ours.”

12Oh no, her heart is such a citadel,

13So fortified with wit, stored with disdain,

14That to win it, is all the skill and pain.

(1591)

"Oh no, her heart is such a citadel" (line 12) is an example of a(n)__________.

Possible Answers:

hyperbole

satire

personification

simile

metaphor

Correct answer:

metaphor

Explanation:

"Oh no, her heart is such a citadel" is an example of a metaphor, as a "metaphor" isa figure of speech that is used to compare two objects without the use of words like "like" or "as." Stella's heart is being compared to a citadel.

(Passage adapted from "Astrophil and Stella" by Sir Philip Sydney, XII.1-14)

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