Cultural and Historical Contexts

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AP English Literature and Composition › Cultural and Historical Contexts

Questions 1 - 10
1

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Who is the author of this poem?

William Blake

William Cowper

John Keats

Christina Rossetti

Matthew Arnold

Explanation

This is “The Tyger,” one of the best known poems by the English poet William Blake (1757-1827).

William Cowper wrote John Gilpin (1782), John Keats wrote Poems (1816), Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market (1862), and Matthew Arnold wrote Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems (1852).

Passage adapted from William Blake’s Songs of Experience (1794).

2

Who is the author of “The Man-Moth”?

Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Gaskell

Sylvia Plath

Amy Lowell

Frank O’Hara

Explanation

Inspired by a newspaper misprint, “The Man-Moth” (1946) is a poem by the U.S. Poet Laureate Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979).

Elizabeth Gaskell wrote Sylvia's Lovers (1863), Sylvia Plath wrote The Bell Jar (1963), Amy Lowell wrote Ballads for Sale (1927), and Frank O’Hara wrote Oranges: 12 pastorals (1953).

3

Who wrote The Remains of the Day?

Kazuo Ishiguro

Arundhati Roy

Kiran Desai

Salman Rushdie

Yann Martel

Explanation

The Remains of the Day (1989)is a novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It concerns Lord Darlington’s butler Stevens and his relationship with a housekeeper in the days leading up to World War II.

Arundhati Roy won the 1999 Man Booker for The God of Small Things (1997), Kiran Desai won the Booker in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss (2006), Salman Rushdie won the Booker in 1981 for Midnight's Children (1981), and Yann Martel is Canadian.

4

KING: … Hieronimo, it greatly pleaseth us

That in our victory thou have a share

By virtue of thy worthy son’s exploit.

… Bring hither the young prince of Portingale!

The rest march on, but, ere they be dismissed,

We will bestow on every soldier

Two ducats, and on every leader ten,

That they may know our largesse welcomes them.

Exeunt all \[the army\] but BALTHAZAR,

LORENZO, and HORATIO.

What genre of play is this?

revenge

morality

mystery

blackface minstrel

Restoration comedy

Explanation

Revenge plays are works typically written during the Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods wherein a protagonist seeks vengeance, pursuing a path that often leads to madness and/or ruin. The Spanish Tragedy features the character Hieronimo’s attempts to avenge his son Horatio, who was killed by Lorenzo, the scheming nephew of the king of Portugal.

Passage adapted from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (1587)

5

Which of the following literary devices does not appear in Angels in America?

Deus ex machina

Doubling

Religious allusions

Monologue

Hallucinatory visions

Explanation

Angels in America features doubling (one actor playing two or more roles), Biblical allusions and visitations from angels, monologues by several of the main characters, and hallucinatory visions. It does not include deus ex machina, which is a theatrical device whereby something unexpected and unexplained intervenes to fix a plot problem and drastically alter the course of the play. (A famous deus ex machina occurs in Hamlet in the form of the pirates.)

6

KING: … Hieronimo, it greatly pleaseth us

That in our victory thou have a share

By virtue of thy worthy son’s exploit.

… Bring hither the young prince of Portingale!

The rest march on, but, ere they be dismissed,

We will bestow on every soldier

Two ducats, and on every leader ten,

That they may know our largesse welcomes them.

Exeunt all \[the army\] but BALTHAZAR,

LORENZO, and HORATIO.

What genre of play is this?

revenge

morality

mystery

blackface minstrel

Restoration comedy

Explanation

Revenge plays are works typically written during the Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods wherein a protagonist seeks vengeance, pursuing a path that often leads to madness and/or ruin. The Spanish Tragedy features the character Hieronimo’s attempts to avenge his son Horatio, who was killed by Lorenzo, the scheming nephew of the king of Portugal.

Passage adapted from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (1587)

7

Who is the author of “The Man-Moth”?

Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Gaskell

Sylvia Plath

Amy Lowell

Frank O’Hara

Explanation

Inspired by a newspaper misprint, “The Man-Moth” (1946) is a poem by the U.S. Poet Laureate Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979).

Elizabeth Gaskell wrote Sylvia's Lovers (1863), Sylvia Plath wrote The Bell Jar (1963), Amy Lowell wrote Ballads for Sale (1927), and Frank O’Hara wrote Oranges: 12 pastorals (1953).

8

Which of the following literary devices does not appear in Angels in America?

Deus ex machina

Doubling

Religious allusions

Monologue

Hallucinatory visions

Explanation

Angels in America features doubling (one actor playing two or more roles), Biblical allusions and visitations from angels, monologues by several of the main characters, and hallucinatory visions. It does not include deus ex machina, which is a theatrical device whereby something unexpected and unexplained intervenes to fix a plot problem and drastically alter the course of the play. (A famous deus ex machina occurs in Hamlet in the form of the pirates.)

9

Who wrote The Remains of the Day?

Kazuo Ishiguro

Arundhati Roy

Kiran Desai

Salman Rushdie

Yann Martel

Explanation

The Remains of the Day (1989)is a novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It concerns Lord Darlington’s butler Stevens and his relationship with a housekeeper in the days leading up to World War II.

Arundhati Roy won the 1999 Man Booker for The God of Small Things (1997), Kiran Desai won the Booker in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss (2006), Salman Rushdie won the Booker in 1981 for Midnight's Children (1981), and Yann Martel is Canadian.

10

KING: … Hieronimo, it greatly pleaseth us

That in our victory thou have a share

By virtue of thy worthy son’s exploit.

… Bring hither the young prince of Portingale!

The rest march on, but, ere they be dismissed,

We will bestow on every soldier

Two ducats, and on every leader ten,

That they may know our largesse welcomes them.

Exeunt all \[the army\] but BALTHAZAR,

LORENZO, and HORATIO.

What genre of play is this?

revenge

morality

mystery

blackface minstrel

Restoration comedy

Explanation

Revenge plays are works typically written during the Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods wherein a protagonist seeks vengeance, pursuing a path that often leads to madness and/or ruin. The Spanish Tragedy features the character Hieronimo’s attempts to avenge his son Horatio, who was killed by Lorenzo, the scheming nephew of the king of Portugal.

Passage adapted from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (1587)

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