CLEP Humanities : Analyzing the Content of Poetry

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Poetry

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
  Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
  Rode the six hundred.

The above lines are from which poem?

Possible Answers:

The Battle of Marathon

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

"The Charge of the Light Brigade"

"Kubla Kahn"

"Crossing the Bar"

Correct answer:

"The Charge of the Light Brigade"

Explanation:

The poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was written in 1854 to commemorate the same event in the Crimean War, where a British brigade made a nearly suicidal charge at the Battle of Balaclava. Published just six weeks after the event, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem is a famous poetic depiction of heroic soldiering from the mid-nineteenth century, with its recitation of the marching, drilling, and cannon fire of the battle.

Example Question #2 : Poetry

Passage adapted from "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson (1890)

 

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—

What is the rhyme scheme for the above poem?

Possible Answers:

AAAB CCCD

AABB CCDD

ABCD ABCD

ABBA CDDC

ABAB CDCD

Correct answer:

ABAB CDCD

Explanation:

A rhyme scheme identified by letter describes each rhyme with the same letter. Thus, since the poem's first and third lines rhyme, the first stanza should be marked as ABAB. Because the second stanza has a new rhyming word, the second stanza should be marked CDCD.

Example Question #1 : Poetry

Passage adapted from "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson (1890)

 

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—

In this poem, what is the poetic device that Dickinson uses in reference to "Death"?

Possible Answers:

Objectification

Alliteration

Simile

Consonance

Personification

Correct answer:

Personification

Explanation:

In this poem, Dickinson has death something that has "stopped for me," a thing that can know, and that has "Civility." These are all features of a person, despite "death" technically being an event or abstract idea. Making an abstract idea have human traits is called "personification."

Example Question #2 : Poetry

John Milton’s Paradise Lost features which figure as its main character?

Possible Answers:

Jesus Christ

Satan

Eve

The angel Gabriel

Adam

Correct answer:

Satan

Explanation:

The very first character introduced into Milton's narrative in Paradise Lost is Satan. While telling the story of Adam and Eve in a new way, the narrative unfolds from Satan's perspective. Milton's epic poem has greatly contributed to the character of Satan in the Western literary tradition.

Example Question #11 : Poetry

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.

 

Take from the dresser of deal,

Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet

On which she embroidered fantails once

And spread it so as to cover her face.

If her horny feet protrude, they come

To show how cold she is, and dumb.

Let the lamp affix its beam.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

 

(1922)

The narrator of this poem is best described as __________.

Possible Answers:

having an omniscient perspective

satirical

detached

being an interested party

hateful

Correct answer:

being an interested party

Explanation:

The poem features a narrator who is attempting to gather everyone for the event. So even though the narrator has a slightly detached view of the event ("Let be be the finale of seem"), the narrator is also deeply involved. There is also a sense of wonder throughout the poem, largely thanks to the narrator's own involvement in the strange circumstances.

(Passage adapted from "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Wallace Stevens)

Example Question #1 : Analyzing The Content Of Twentieth Century Poetry

Which of the following poems was written by Allen Ginsberg?

Possible Answers:

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"Funeral Blues"

The Waste Land

"Howl"

Correct answer:

"Howl"

Explanation:

Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" is considered the preeminent Beat-era poem, with its stark descriptions of drugs and sexual acts, as well as its use of a blank verse form inspired by jazz. Ginsberg gained instant notoriety when "Howl" was published in 1957, and was brought forward in an obscenity trial in Ginsberg's native California in 1959.

Example Question #2 : Analyzing The Content Of Twentieth Century Poetry

Adapted from "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Wallace Stevens (1922)

 

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.

 

Take from the dresser of deal,

Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet

On which she embroidered fantails once

And spread it so as to cover her face.

If her horny feet protrude, they come

To show how cold she is, and dumb.

Let the lamp affix its beam.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

What kind of event does the poem describe?

Possible Answers:

An outdoor barbecue

A funeral or wake

A birthday party

A patriotic celebration

A christening

Correct answer:

A funeral or wake

Explanation:

The poem describes a woman's body as "cold" and "dumb," and that it needs to be covered by a sheet, indicating that she is dead. The rest of the poem described gathering people for some kind of event where she is central. Thus, the poem is about a funeral or wake.

Example Question #241 : Clep: Humanities

What is the Roman epic poem that is both a successor to the Homeric epics and a founding myth regarding Rome?

Possible Answers:

The Odes

The Eclogues

The Iliad

The Aeneid

The Divine Comedy

Correct answer:

The Aeneid

Explanation:

The Aeneid, written by the poet Vergil between 29 and 19 BCE, tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero and the mythical founder of Rome. As such, the story is both a continuation of Homer's Iliad, and serves as a founding myth for the Roman people. Vergil's poem traces how Aeneas fled Troy, led a Trojan fleet, and eventually settled in Italy.

Example Question #1 : Analyzing The Content Of Medieval And Renaissance Poetry

The medieval work that followed its author's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven is __________.

Possible Answers:

Beowulf

Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight

The Summa Theologiœ

The Divine Comedy

The Canterbury Tales

Correct answer:

The Divine Comedy

Explanation:

The Divine Comedy tells the story of its author, Dante, traveling through the different realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, all to find what happened to his deceased lover, Beatrice. The work is divided into three separate sections between Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Heaven). The whole work is an allegory for the soul's journey to God, as expressed in Medieval Catholic theology.

Example Question #2 : Analyzing The Content Of Medieval And Renaissance Poetry

Which of these figures was in limbo in Dante Alighieri's fourteenth century epic poem The Divine Comedy?

Possible Answers:

Emperor Frederick II, King of the Holy Roman Empire

Sultan Saladin of Egypt

Beatrice

Queen Dido of Carthage

Judas Iscariot

Correct answer:

Sultan Saladin of Egypt

Explanation:

Sultan Saladin is the correct answer. He was placed in limbo because he was an honorable man, despite being a non-Christian. Sultan Saladin was a contemporary of Richard the Lionheart and conquered Jerusalem in the Second and Third Crusades. Others in limbo in The Divine Comedy include Julius Caesar, Hector, and Avicenna.

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