Identification of World Poetry
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AP English Literature and Composition › Identification of World Poetry
Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,
And with what needful is for his release,
Assist him so, that I may be consoled.
Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;
I come from there, where I would fain return;
Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.
When I shall be in presence of my Lord,
Full often will I praise thee unto him.'
Then paused she, and thereafter I began . . .
The above lines belong to which work of literature?
The Divine Comedy
The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Aeneid
Confessions
Explanation
This is Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, one of three books in epic poem The Divine Comedy. Dante’s masterpiece, which was written in the fourteenth century, includes several main characters: Beatrice, who is Dante’s muse; Virgil, who guides the narrator on his journey through Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory; and the narrator himself, who embarks on an allegorical/metaphysical journey from sinfulness to God.
Passage adapted from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri l.67-75 (trans. Longfellow 1867)
Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,
And with what needful is for his release,
Assist him so, that I may be consoled.
Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;
I come from there, where I would fain return;
Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.
When I shall be in presence of my Lord,
Full often will I praise thee unto him.'
Then paused she, and thereafter I began . . .
The above lines belong to which work of literature?
The Divine Comedy
The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Aeneid
Confessions
Explanation
This is Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, one of three books in epic poem The Divine Comedy. Dante’s masterpiece, which was written in the fourteenth century, includes several main characters: Beatrice, who is Dante’s muse; Virgil, who guides the narrator on his journey through Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory; and the narrator himself, who embarks on an allegorical/metaphysical journey from sinfulness to God.
Passage adapted from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri l.67-75 (trans. Longfellow 1867)
When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left his home and the lake of his home, and went into the mountains. There he enjoyed his spirit and solitude, and for ten years did not weary of it. But at last his heart changed,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, and spake thus unto it:
Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!
For ten years hast thou climbed hither unto my cave: thou wouldst have wearied of thy light and of the journey, had it not been for me, mine eagle, and my serpent.
But we awaited thee every morning, took from thee thine overflow and blessed thee for it.
Lo! I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it.
I would fain bestow and distribute, until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the poor happy in their riches.
Therefore must I descend into the deep: as thou doest in the evening, when thou goest behind the sea, and givest light also to the nether-world, thou exuberant star!
Like thee must I go down, as men say, to whom I shall descend.
Bless me, then, thou tranquil eye, that canst behold even the greatest happiness without envy!
Bless the cup that is about to overflow, that the water may flow golden out of it, and carry everywhere the reflection of thy bliss!
Lo! This cup is again going to empty itself, and Zarathustra is again going to be a man.
Thus began Zarathustra's down-going.
Who wrote the above lines?
Nietzsche
Goethe
Voltaire
Rousseau
Cervantes
Explanation
This excerpt is taken from the prologue to Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1883 Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book For All and None. The work is highly philosophical and introduces concepts such as eternal recurrence and the Übermensch, or “Overman.”
Passage adapted from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book For All and None by Fredrich Nietzche (1883; trans. Common 1909)
When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left his home and the lake of his home, and went into the mountains. There he enjoyed his spirit and solitude, and for ten years did not weary of it. But at last his heart changed,—and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, and spake thus unto it:
Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!
For ten years hast thou climbed hither unto my cave: thou wouldst have wearied of thy light and of the journey, had it not been for me, mine eagle, and my serpent.
But we awaited thee every morning, took from thee thine overflow and blessed thee for it.
Lo! I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it.
I would fain bestow and distribute, until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the poor happy in their riches.
Therefore must I descend into the deep: as thou doest in the evening, when thou goest behind the sea, and givest light also to the nether-world, thou exuberant star!
Like thee must I go down, as men say, to whom I shall descend.
Bless me, then, thou tranquil eye, that canst behold even the greatest happiness without envy!
Bless the cup that is about to overflow, that the water may flow golden out of it, and carry everywhere the reflection of thy bliss!
Lo! This cup is again going to empty itself, and Zarathustra is again going to be a man.
Thus began Zarathustra's down-going.
Who wrote the above lines?
Nietzsche
Goethe
Voltaire
Rousseau
Cervantes
Explanation
This excerpt is taken from the prologue to Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1883 Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book For All and None. The work is highly philosophical and introduces concepts such as eternal recurrence and the Übermensch, or “Overman.”
Passage adapted from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book For All and None by Fredrich Nietzche (1883; trans. Common 1909)
Which Caribbean poet wrote the seminal book-length poem Notebook of a Return to the Native Land?
Aimé Césaire
Ama Ata Aidoo
Stanley French
René Depestre
Kamau Brathwaite
Explanation
This is the Martinican writer Aimé Césaire, an important founder of négritude in French-language literature. Césaire’s work also includes plays such as A Tempest (based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest) and critical essays such as Discourse on Colonialism. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land was first published in 1939 in France.
Which Caribbean poet wrote the seminal book-length poem Notebook of a Return to the Native Land?
Aimé Césaire
Ama Ata Aidoo
Stanley French
René Depestre
Kamau Brathwaite
Explanation
This is the Martinican writer Aimé Césaire, an important founder of négritude in French-language literature. Césaire’s work also includes plays such as A Tempest (based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest) and critical essays such as Discourse on Colonialism. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land was first published in 1939 in France.
As I was going down impassive Rivers,
I no longer felt myself guided by haulers:
Yelping redskins had taken them as targets
And had nailed them naked to colored stakes.
I was indifferent to all crews,
The bearer of Flemish wheat or English cottons
When with my haulers this uproar stopped
The Rivers let me go where I wanted.
Into the furious lashing of the tides
More heedless than children's brains the other winter
I ran! And loosened Peninsulas
Have not undergone a more triumphant hubbub
The storm blessed my sea vigils
Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves
That are called eternal rollers of victims,
Ten nights, without missing the stupid eye of the lighthouses!
Who is the author of this poem?
Arthur Rimbaud
Paul Verlaine
Guillaume Apollinaire
Stéphane Mallarmé
Émile Zola
Explanation
These lines come from the opening of "The Drunken Boat,” one of Arthur Rimbaud’s most famous poems. Written in 1871, the poem was lauded as an avant-garde work for its vivid, often unsettling imagery and its fragmentary first-person narrative.
Passage adapted from "The Drunken Boat" by Arthur Rimbaud (1871)
As I was going down impassive Rivers,
I no longer felt myself guided by haulers:
Yelping redskins had taken them as targets
And had nailed them naked to colored stakes.
I was indifferent to all crews,
The bearer of Flemish wheat or English cottons
When with my haulers this uproar stopped
The Rivers let me go where I wanted.
Into the furious lashing of the tides
More heedless than children's brains the other winter
I ran! And loosened Peninsulas
Have not undergone a more triumphant hubbub
The storm blessed my sea vigils
Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves
That are called eternal rollers of victims,
Ten nights, without missing the stupid eye of the lighthouses!
Who is the author of this poem?
Arthur Rimbaud
Paul Verlaine
Guillaume Apollinaire
Stéphane Mallarmé
Émile Zola
Explanation
These lines come from the opening of "The Drunken Boat,” one of Arthur Rimbaud’s most famous poems. Written in 1871, the poem was lauded as an avant-garde work for its vivid, often unsettling imagery and its fragmentary first-person narrative.
Passage adapted from "The Drunken Boat" by Arthur Rimbaud (1871)
The Jamaican poet Jean “Binta” Breeze wrote all of the following except which collection of poetry?
Sea Grapes
Riddym Ravings and Other Poems
The Fifth Figure
The Arrival of Brighteye and Other Poems
Third World Girl
Explanation
Sea Grapes is a 1976 poetry collection by Derek Walcott.
The Jamaican poet Jean “Binta” Breeze wrote all of the following except which collection of poetry?
Sea Grapes
Riddym Ravings and Other Poems
The Fifth Figure
The Arrival of Brighteye and Other Poems
Third World Girl
Explanation
Sea Grapes is a 1976 poetry collection by Derek Walcott.