All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #21 : Genre, Style, Tone, Mood, And Other Literary Features
A Late Walk
1 When I go up through the mowing field,
2 The headless aftermath,
3 Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
4 Half closes the garden path.
5 And when I come to the garden ground,
6 The whir of sober birds
7 Up from the tangle of withered weeds
8 Is sadder than any words
9 A tree beside the wall stands bare,
10 But a leaf that lingered brown,
11 Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
12 Comes softly rattling down.
13 I end not far from my going forth
14 By picking the faded blue
15 Of the last remaining aster flower
16 To carry again to you.
The tone of the poem can best be described as .
nostalgic
optimistic
irreverant
lighthearted
cavalier
nostalgic
The elegiac style of the poem, as it is literally about the passing of a growing season and the coming of winter, depicts nostalgia.
Example Question #11 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Poetry
… It is morning. I stand by the mirror
And tie my tie once more.
While waves far off in a pale rose twilight
Crash on a white sand shore.
I stand by a mirror and comb my hair:(5)
How small and white my face!—
The green earth tilts through a sphere of air
And bathes in a flame of space.
There are houses hanging above the stars
And stars hung under a sea... (10)
And a sun far off in a shell of silence
Dapples my walls for me....
(1919)
How could the tone of this passage best be described?
Jaded
Reverent
Sycophantic
Sardonic
Sycophantic
Reverent
The passage shows a quiet, solemn respect for the narrator’s surroundings and lends itself to a reverent tone. The passage is neither jaded (cynical) nor sardonic (sarcastic). It is also not sycophantic (obsequious, flattering) or allusive (referential).
Passage adapted from Conrad Aiken’s “Morning Song From ‘Senlin.’” Modern American Poetry, ed.Louis Untermeyer. (1919)
Example Question #46 : Interpreting The Passage
1 Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting Heaven
2 That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
3 And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
4 So wild that every casual thought of that and this
5 Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
6 With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
7 And I took all the blame out of all sense and reason,
8 Until I cried and trembled and rocked to and fro,
9 Riddled with light. Ah! when the ghost begins to quicken,
10 Confusion of the death-bed over, is it sent
11 Out naked on the roads, as the books say, and stricken
12 By the injustice of the skies for punishment?
(1916)
The speaker's tone could be described as one of ______________________.
bitterness and cowardice
penitence and regret
awe and fear
disgust and amazement
admiration and joy
awe and fear
Awe and fear are two adequate descriptors for this poem's tone. Awe is a state of amazement or wonder at something beautiful, vast, or in some way beyond one's own comprehension. Towards the end of the poem, especially when the speaker is wondering if the afterlife will be as harsh and cold as the sky looks, the poem also takes on a definitive tone of fear.
There is little in the poem that creates a tone of disgust, joy, bitterness and cowardice, or regret.
Passage adapted from William Butler Yeats' "The Cold Heaven" (1916)
Example Question #21 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Poetry
Passage adapted from "Piano" by D.H. Lawrence (1918)
Which word best describes the overall tone of this poem?
Nostalgia
Melancholy
Disillusionment
Betrayal
Nostalgia
While several of these words describe feelings the speaker experiences throughout the poem, "Nostalgia" is the poem's most persistent mood. The speaker's feeling of sadness and grief for loss of the past is rooted in memories of his mother playing the piano, of which he is reminded when he hears the woman singing in the first line. Without reminiscing on the past, the speaker would feel no "melancholy," "disillusionment," or "betrayal," for its passing.
Example Question #4 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Twentieth Century Poetry
To the Dead in the Grave-Yard Under My Window
by Adelaide Crapsey (1878 - 1915)
- How can you lie so still? All day I watch
- And never a blade of all the green sod moves
- To show where restlessly you toss and turn,
- And fling a desperate arm or draw up knees
- Stiffened and aching from their long disuse;
- I watch all night and not one ghost comes forth
- To take its freedom of the midnight hour.
- Oh, have you no rebellion in your bones?
- The very worms must scorn you where you lie,
- A pallid mouldering acquiescent folk,
- Meek habitants of unresented graves.
- Why are you there in your straight row on row
- Where I must ever see you from my bed
- That in your mere dumb presence iterate
- The text so weary in my ears: “Lie still
- And rest; be patient and lie still and rest.”
- I’ll not be patient! I will not lie still!
The speaker’s tone can best be characterized as:
I exasperated
II scornful
III tractable
I only
I and II
II and III only
I, II, and III
III only
I and II
The speaker's tone is both exasperated ("How can you lie so still?) and scornful ("Oh, have you no rebellion in your bones? /The very worms must scorn you where you lie...") Her tone is not at all "tractable" (compliant, easily controlled).
Even if you do not know the meaning of "tractable", you can still discover the correct response through the process of elimination. If you see that the speaker's tone is both exasperated and scornful, you can eliminate "I only" (which says "only exasperated is correct") "III only" (which says "neither exasperated nor scornful is correct"), and "II and III
only" (which says that exasperated is not correct.)
Example Question #2 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Twentieth Century Poetry
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under the ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots,
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
(1921)
Which of the following best describes the poem's tone?
Optimistic and theological
Loving but frustrated
Existential and resentful
Despondent and passive
Petulant and accepting
Existential and resentful
The poem's tone can best be described as being "existential and resentful," because "Life in itself is nothing" illustrates the speaker's philosophical and pessimistic views on life, and her resentment towards April is illustrated by "You can no longer quiet me..." and calling April "an idiot."
Passage adapted from Edna St. Vincent Milay's "Spring" (1921).
Example Question #6 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Twentieth Century Poetry
The first two lines of this poem function primarily to establish ___________________.
Setting
Plot
Mood
Rhyme scheme
Character
Mood
The primary function of the first two lines of this poem is to establish mood. The word choice and imagery contribute to a dark, creepy atmosphere. Although these lines do establish that the poem will have a rhyme scheme (trees/seas), this purpose is secondary to the establishment of mood. These lines also hint at a setting, but give us no specifics--we learn later in the stanza that the setting is an inn near a purple moor. These lines provide no information about character or plot.
Passage adapted from Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman" (1906)
Example Question #3 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Twentieth Century Poetry
1. Better to see your cheek grown hollow,
2. Better to see your temple worn,
3. Than to forget to follow, follow,
4. After the sound of a silver horn.
5. Better to bind your brow with willow
6. And follow, follow until you die,
7. Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
8. Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by.
9. Better to see your cheek grow sallow
10. And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon,
11. Than to forget to hallo, hallo,
12. After the milk-white hounds of the moon.
The attitude of the author toward the reader can be described as all of the following EXCEPT ______________.
I Gently enticing
II Harshly berating
III Urgently pleading
III only
II only
I and III only
II and III only
I only
I and III only
The poem as a whole can be read as an extended warning against living unconsciously. The author’s tone throughout is both enticing and pleading, but never harsh. Though she urges the reader to make the right choice, she does not berate him.
Passage adapted from Eleanor Wylie's "A Madman's Song" (1921)
Example Question #21 : Tone, Style, And Mood: Poetry
1. Better to see your cheek grown hollow,
2. Better to see your temple worn,
3. Than to forget to follow, follow,
4. After the sound of a silver horn.
5. Better to bind your brow with willow
6. And follow, follow until you die,
7. Than to sleep with your head on a golden pillow,
8. Nor lift it up when the hunt goes by.
9. Better to see your cheek grow sallow
10. And your hair grown gray, so soon, so soon,
11. Than to forget to hallo, hallo,
12. After the milk-white hounds of the moon.
It can be inferred that the author sympathizes with which literary movement?
Postmodernism
Magic Realism
Symbolism
Classicism
Romanticism
Romanticism
This poem is a clear example of literary Romanticism: it extols intense feeling, reveres nature and the irrational, and associates night and moonlight with heightened experience.
Passage adapted from Eleanor Wylie's "A Madman's Song" (1921)
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