GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Identification of American Plays Before 1925
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Identification Of American Plays Before 1925
Several American plays have been considered “firsts”—the first American play, the first professionally produced American play, the first American play written by an African-American, or even the first play by a “professional” American playwright. Which of the following works cannot claim ANY of these distinctions?
Andre by Robert Dunlap
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley
Androboros by Robert Hunter
The Prince of Parthia by Thomas Godfrey
The Drama of King Shotaway unknown
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley
Although Phillis Wheatley was indeed the first published African-American writer and woman, she did not write plays. As the title of her publication indicates, she wrote poetry.
Example Question #2 : Identification Of American Plays Before 1925
This early American political writer and satirist wrote several highly critical and controversial plays about Revolutionary-era politics: The Adulateur, The Defeat, and The Group. Who is the playwright in question?
Mercy Otis Warren
Sojourner Truth
Nathaniel Hawthorne
John Smith
Anne Bradstreet
Mercy Otis Warren
This writer is Mercy Otis Warren, who eschewed cultural norms and wrote about war, politics, and ethical matters—all subjects at the time thought to be in the realm of men. Other plays by Warren include The Ladies of Castille and The Sack of Rome, which concern ideals of liberty and morality in the early United States.
Example Question #3 : Identification Of American Plays Before 1925
Which of the following was not likely to be seen in pre-twentieth-century American theater?
American actors performing “imported” British dramas such as Richard III or The Merchant of Venice
Jazz poetry
Racy burlesque acts
Blackface
Boycotts or bans by religious institutions
Jazz poetry
Of all the options listed above, only jazz poetry developed after 1900.
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