English IV
Adapted from the Terrebonne Parish School System’s Credit
Recovery Exam for East Baton Rouge Parish Pre and Post
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East Baton Rouge Parish School System
Department of Accountability, Assessment, and Evaluation
English IV
Proficiency Test
SPOTLIGHT ON
Women Writers in the Romantic Period
1 Critics and historians may continue to quibble over the dates and definitions of Romanticism.
But all agree that the period 1798-1832 in England was characterized by profound social
change and unprecedented literary productivity. These phenomena altered the position that
women occupied in society and brought about new opportunities and new problems for
5 women writers. As the major male Romantic writers (the so-called Big Six) solidified their
claim to poetry as the genre chat represented the highest literary achievement, women writers
turned to the novel. Two of these writers, Mary Shelley and Jane Austen, can be said to be
Romantics; however; their social position as women writers prevented them from simply
adopting their male contemporaries’ philosophies and literary styles.
10 Romantic writers embraced certain elements of Enlightenment philosophy; for example, they
applauded Enlightenment philosophers' idealism and faith in the perfectibility of human
beings. However, these writers deplored insistence on reason over emotion, and an emphasis
on science that discounted the spiritual and supernatural. As a result, male writers increasingly
incorporated qualities associated with women--such as extreme emotional sensitivity--into
15 their own work. Inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792), literary women, on the other hand, countered the prevailing Romantic trends by
writing books that portrayed women as rational as well as sensitive creatures, possessing both
sense and sensibility to borrow the title of one of Jane Austen's novels.
As encouraging as Wollstonecraft's Vindication must have been to some women of the day, it
20 produced quite the opposite reaction in most male, and many female, members of society: The
novelist Horace Walpole (1717-1797) called her "a hyena in petticoats." The resulting
backlash, which had been simmering since the publication of Vindication in 1792, reached full
boil when William Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of “A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman " (1798), a tribute to his late wife that scandalized the public with its accounts of her
25 illicit love affairs. In this climate, women who challenged the conventional views of marriage
and women's roles were ridiculed. Those who spoke their minds in print risked being publicly
renounced and having their work rejected by publishers.
Jane Austen (I775-1817)
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35
Jane Austen was already practicing her craft when Mary Shelley was born. The daughter of
an Anglican minister, Austen grew up in a respectable family with social status but little
money. What few resources they had were spread thin among two daughters and five sons,
with the largest expenses being devoted, as was common practice, to the formal education
of the boys. Jane and her sister received an education typical for girls of the gentry: two
years at a boarding-school and lessons at home in the female accomplishments of drawing,
music, and needlework. Jane also must have made good use of her father's library.
In an era when being known as a lady novelist was often more a stigma than an honor, it is
not surprising that Austen published all her novels anonymously, despite the fact that
critics generally agreed her stories would not harm young female readers' moral
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Proficiency Test
development. Careful readers, however, could see Austen's subtle but fierce satire of the
social and educational status quo. Austen's novels about the social habits, marriage
conventions, and manners of the English gentry quietly insist that women are rational
creatures, much the same assertion that brought so much scorn upon the writer of A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Furthermore, Austen's exquisitely rendered
descriptions of her characters are often cloaked in an irony detectable only to those
sympathetic to her critique of society's constraints on women. The opening sentences of
her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, illustrate her trademark irony and humor:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must
be in want of a wife.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a
neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered
50 as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is
let at last?"
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
"But it is," returned she;" "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
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Mr. Bennet made no answer.
"Do not you want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.
"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."
This was invitation enough.
"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of
60 large fortune from the north of England...."
"Is he married or single?"
"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune ... What a fine thing for our
girls!"
"How so? how can it affect them?"
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"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I
am thinking of his marrying one of them."
"Is that his design in settling here?
"Design! nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one
of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes,"
- Jane Austen; from Pride and Prejudice
70
The Austen family remained so protective of their daughter's reputation (and presumably
their own as well) that when Jane Austen died at the age of forty-one, the headstone made
for her grave made no mention of the six novels that, to this day, have never been out of
print. Instead it praised "the benevolence of her heart, the sweetness of her temper, and the
extraordinary endowments of her mind."
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)
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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, child of two of the most influential writers of the period,
grew up in an unconventional and intellectual household frequented by leading artists and
writers of the day. Her famous mother had died a few days after giving birth, and William
Godwin remarried a woman who was everything Mary Wollstonecraft was not: dull and
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conventional. Because her stepmother tried to force her into domesticity, the young girl
escaped by reading in her father's library and engaging in stimulating adult conversation
with the artists and intellectuals who considered themselves students of William Godwin’s
philosophy. One of these guests was a brilliant young poet named Percy Bysshe Shelley,
with whom Mary went on to share a brief eight years of passion, intellectual partnership,
adventure, and tragedy.
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In 1814, a teenage Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin eloped with Shelley (who was married at
the time), and in 1816 she married him after the death of his legal wife. The couple
endured the deaths of three of their four children, and in 1822, Shelley drowned in a
boating accident in Italy. Mary Shelley never remarried, and when she died at age fiftythree she was survived by her son, Percy Florence Shelley, and by a literary legacy of six
novels, volumes of essays, poems, travel narratives, and a comprehensive journal.
Whatever her other accomplishments, however, the reputation of Mary Shelley is forever
linked to her first novel, Frankenstein, which she began when she was just nineteen.
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The “Author's Introduction” to the 1831 edition explains the origins of this most famous
book. The Shelleys spent the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva with Mary Shelley's
stepsister Claire and Lord Byron. Since the weather had been cold and rainy, the group
decided that for amusement and an exercise in composition each one of them would make
up a ghost story. Frustrated during the daylight hours by her lack of inspiration, Mary
Shelley was visited in her dreams by a vision that would become the subject of the most
enduring ghost story in English literature.
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I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts
kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out
and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy,
half-Vital motion. . . . He would hope that, left to itself, the slight spark of life which he had
communicated would fade, that this thing which had received such imperfect animation
105 would subside into dead matter, and he might sleep in the belief that the silence of the grave
would quench forever the transient existence of the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as
the cradle of life. He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold, the horrid thing
stands at his bedside, opening his curtains and looking on him with yellow, watery, but
speculative eyes.
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-Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, from Frankenstein
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115
With the story of Victor Frankenstein's monstrous, motherless creation, Mary Shelley
could examine her own fears of motherhood and her own orphaned condition; in addition,
she could vent an anger and violence considered especially unfeminine in her day.
For today's readers, poetry dominates the literary landscape of the Romantic period;
however, novelists such as Mary Shelley and Jane Austen remind us of women's
participation in a flourishing genre. In the fantasies of Gothic novels, in the privacy of
letters and journals, or in very public and forceful essays, women writers recorded their
perspectives on the events of a turbulent age.
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Answer the following questions about the above passage.
1. Analyze the content and structure of the piece. The author’s purpose is to
A. Inform the reader about the Romantic Period.
B. Inform about Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and entertain the reader
with excerpts from these authors’ works.
C. Inform the reader about the disconnect between Romantic values and women’s worth
and persuade the reader by arguing that Austen and Shelley did not write like their
male counterparts.
D. Inform the reader about the disconnect between Romantic values and women’s worth
and entertain the reader with excerpts from these Austen’s and Shelley’s works.
E. None of these are correct.
2. To achieve this purpose, the author uses ______ which is effective because ____.
A. First person narrator; the author is a woman which makes the reader more sympathetic
to the content.
B. Second person narrator; the author is talking about other people, and this point of view
keeps the reader interested in the content.
C. Third person limited narrator; the author is only focusing on two writers from the
period.
D. Third person narrator; the author wants to maintain a formal tone and come off as more
objective than subjective.
E. None of these are correct.
3. Read the following sample evaluation of the text. Choose the true statement.
In the first paragraph, the author claims, “Two of these writers, Mary Shelley and Jane
Austen, can be said to be Romantics; however; their social position as women writers
prevented them from simply adopting their male contemporaries’ philosophies and literary
styles.” The author of the piece begins with strong claims in each of the subsequent
paragraphs. In the second paragraph, the author informs the reader about the history of
women writers and claims that Mary Wollstonecraft inspired “literary women” to create
“rational” and “sensitive” female characters. In the third paragraph, the author connects
this with the way society viewed women at that time. Women, like those who created
strong female characters, who did not follow the conventions of the day were punished
with scorn and possible loss of opportunities. However, here is where the author’s writing
loses focus because of the choices in structure. In the sections about Austen and
Wollstonecraft, the author shifts focus from proving the claim to mostly informing.
Though the author does refer to specific examples that show how these female writers
acted independently and how others reacted to them, the structure does not refer back to
the original claim, making the argument and the text as a whole less effective than it could
be. Also, the conclusion merely wraps up the information; it, like the examples before,
does not clearly connect with how their social positions influenced their literary choices.
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A. The author’s claim in “Spotlight on women Writers in the Romantic Period” could be
written more concisely as, “Two of these Romantic writers, Mary Shelly and Jane
Austen, did not simply adopt their male contemporaries’ philosophies and literary
styles because of their social positions as women.”
B. The author of “Spotlight on women Writers in the Romantic Period” incorrectly used
the semicolon after “however.” It should be a comma because “however” is a
transitional word linking two complete sentences.
C. The author of this evaluation accurately believes that the author of “Spotlight on
women Writers in the Romantic Period” did not effectively achieve the purpose set out
by the structure of the writing.
D. All of these are true.
E. None of these are true.
4. The sentence in lines 38-39 reads, “Careful readers, however, could see Austen's subtle but
fierce satire of the social and educational status quo.” Choose the correct response.
A. The sentence should read, “Careful readers; however, could see Austen's subtle but
fierce satire of the social and educational status quo.”
B. The sentence should read, “Careful readers however, could see Austen's subtle but
fierce satire of the social and educational status quo
C. The sentence should read, “Careful readers, however could see Austen's subtle but
fierce satire of the social and educational status quo
D. The sentence should read, “Careful readers, however; could see Austen's subtle but
fierce satire of the social and educational status quo
E. None of these are correct.
Use the opening from Pride and Prejudice to correctly match the statements.
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This stylistic choice clearly develops Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s character.
This stylistic choice in the first sentence works to create a jovially critical
tone.
This stylistic choice allows the author to use the characters and a narrator
to both tell a story and comment on the beliefs of her society.
Lines that use specific diction to emphasize the belief that women were
property of men occur in lines…
These lines expose the accepted assumptions about men and women of the
time period and show disdain for this assumption through word choice and
sentence structure.
A
B
hyperbole
46-50
C
dialogue
D
46, 50
E
point of
view
10. The reader can infer from the style of the dialogue between Mr. And Mrs. Bennet that
A.
B.
C.
D.
Mrs. Bennet is very sensible and Mr. Bennet reflects the values of the time period.
Mr. Bennet is very sensible and Mrs. Bennet reflects the values of the time period.
Both Mr. And Mrs. Bennet are very sensible and reflect the values of the time period.
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Bennet is very sensible and does not reflect the values of the time
period.
E. None of these are true.
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11. The theme of the excerpt from Pride and Prejudice is ___ as supported by ___
Women are obsessed with men; Mrs. Bennet’s words and actions.
Men are obsessed with women Mr. Bennet’s words and actions.
Men should pay more attention to women; Mrs. Bennet’s words and actions.
Marriage is the most important institution in a person’s life; Mr. Bennet’s words and
actions.
E. None of these are true.
A.
B.
C.
D.
12. What is ironic about the inscription on Jane Austen’s headstone?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
It doesn’t show the rejection she experienced.
It was written by someone who didn’t understand her beliefs.
It was the first time her family recognized her accomplishments.
All of these are true.
None of these are true.
Analyze the diction in this section. Use the text to correctly match the statements.
13
14
15
16
17
The writer chooses the diction “quibble”
in the first line because
The writer chooses the diction “deplored”
in line 12 because
The writer uses the word “creatures” in
lines 17 and 41 because
The writer uses the word “gentry” in lines
32 and 40 because
A
B
C
D
The writer uses the word “cloaked” in line E
43 because
it works to create a tone of disdain for
those in this class who devalued women.
it has a connotation of hate, which here
works to enhance the author’s claim.
this word implies that the argument is
frivolous, or unimportant.
since it is always used from the dominant
point of view of that time period, this
word choice emphasizes how women
were devalued.
None of these
Use the section titled “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)” for the following questions.
18. The complete sentence in lines 91 and 92 should be rewritten like ____ to read more clearly.
A. Despite her other accomplishments, Mary Shelley’s reputation is forever linked to her
first novel, Frankenstein, which she began when she was just nineteen.
B. Even with her other accomplishments, Mary Shelley’s reputation is forever linked to
her first novel, Frankenstein, which she began when she was just nineteen.
C. Mary Shelley had all these accomplishments; however, her reputation is forever linked
to her first novel, Frankenstein, which she began when she was just nineteen.
D. All of the above are acceptable.
E. None of the above are acceptable.
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19. For better clarity in meaning, the sentences, “The Shelleys spent the summer of 1816 at Lake
Geneva with Mary Shelley's stepsister Claire and Lord Byron. Since the weather had been
cold and rainy, the group decided that for amusement and an exercise in composition each
one of them would make up a ghost story,” should read
A. The Shelleys spent the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva with Mary Shelley's stepsister
Claire and Lord Byron. Since the weather had been cold and rainy, the group decided
that, for amusement and an exercise in composition, each one of them would make up a
ghost story.
B. The Shelleys spent the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva with Mary Shelley's stepsister,
Claire, and Lord Byron. Since the weather had been cold and rainy, the group decided
that for amusement and an exercise in composition each one of them would make up a
ghost story
C. The Shelleys spent the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva with Mary Shelley's stepsister,
Claire, and Lord Byron. Since the weather had been cold and rainy, the group decided
that, for amusement and an exercise in composition, each one of them would make up a
ghost story
D. All of these are acceptable
E. None of these are acceptable.
20. Who is the speaker in the excerpt from Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, in the box?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
An unknown person who is introducing the book.
Mary Shelley
Shelley’s character, Victor Frankenstein
Shelley’s character, Frankenstein’s monster
None of these are true.
21. The purpose of this excerpt from Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is
A. To inform the reader of the lucid dream that inspired Shelley to create the Victor
Frankenstein character and then write the novel.
B. To inform the reader that women control all life.
C. To argue that man is the most hideous creature that ever lived.
D. To argue that people cannot function well without proper sleep.
E. None of these are true.
22. Text evidence that supports the answer to the previous question is
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
That Shelley writes in first person to tell her story.
“with shut eyes but acute mental vision” refers to her dream state.
“he” in the passage refers to the doctor Shelley envisioned would create a monster.
All of these are acceptable.
None of these are acceptable
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23. According to the author, Shelley’s creation of Frankenstein’s monster…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
represents society’s rejection of women novelists
supports the horror felt by poets
rationalizes the rebirth of the Enlightenment philosophy
symbolizes Mary Shelley’s insecurities
None of these are correct.
24. What does the author of this passage imply about Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelly?
A. Both had been entrapped by their children.
B. Both had strong beliefs about women’s roles in society.
C. Both had admiration for male literary critics.
D. Both had parents who were supportive of their talents.
E. None of these are true.
Read the passage to help you analyze the poem, “Siren Song,” by Margaret Atwood.
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The Sirens were mythological creatures who were part bird and part human. The three
Sirens most written about in Greek mythology were Pisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepi; one
played the lyre, one the flute, and the other sang. They lived in the middle of the sea on a
rocky island and played music so beautiful and irresistible to men that sailors on passing
ships would either crash their boats into the rocky island or jump ship to get closer to the
Sirens. No matter the method of demise, the crash or ship-abandoning was not the worst
part for the sailors; the Sirens would eat these men.
There are two stories in Greek mythology in which men resist the Sirens. In The Odyssey,
Odysseus had his men tie him to the ship’s mast and put beeswax in their ears, but not his.
Therefore, Odysseus was the only sailor who could hear the song but was physically
unable to leave the ship. In the story of Jason and the Argonauts, Orpheus, an extremely
talented musician, played music that was even more beautiful than the Sirens’, so the
sailors could hardly hear the Sirens’ would-be death call.
Sirens are still used in modern media. Starbucks uses a Siren logo on all of their products.
In the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou, a retelling of the classic The Odyssey, the
alluring music of the three women washing clothes by the river pull the three main
characters away from their quest.
Adapted from http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1850-sirens#
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Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
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the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember.
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15
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
20
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can.
you are unique
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at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
25. Who is the speaker of “Siren Song”?
A. a siren
B. Margaret Atwood
C. a sailor
D. a young woman
E. None of these
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26. What does the language structure, specifically the colons after “learn” in line 2 and
“irresistible” in line 3, signal to the reader?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
That the speaker will tell an irresistible story that everyone wants to know.
That the speaker will sing the irresistible song that everyone wants to know.
That the speaker is harmless.
That the speaker really cares about teaching people.
None of these
27. Based on the text before the poem, your answer above, and the evidence in the first stanza, you
can infer that the audience is
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Women.
The other Sirens.
Margaret Atwood
A sailor passing the Sirens
None of these
Match the statements based on the evidence in the poem.
28.
In stanza 3…
A
29.
In stanza 4…
B
30.
In stanza 6…
C
31.
In stanza 7…
D
32.
In stanza 8…
E
the speaker repeats a direct address,
signaling to the reader that men are easily
manipulated.
specific diction signifies that the speaker
is destined to fulfill her purpose.
the reader can infer that the speaker feels
purposeless.
the author employs irony to emphasize the
brutal complacency of the speaker.
the reader can infer that the speaker would
prefer to be a “whole woman” both
physically and metaphorically.
33. The tone of “Siren Song” juxtaposes both ___ and ___ to enhance the author’s use of ___ to
expose men’s weakness for women.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
pity; detachment; irony
pity; sorrow; imagery
complacency; detachment; imagery
complacency; beauty; irony
None of these
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Proficiency Test
Use the statements in the chart below to complete this statement:
A possible theme for this poem is ___
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
based on the evidence in lines ___
Men’s egos cause their fall from grace.
A man is easily manipulated by a
“damsel in distress”
Men don’t listen very well.
Women will achieve their purpose
despite circumstances.
Men will act irrationally for an
attractive woman.
A
B
4-6.
7-18.
C
D
19-25.
25-27.
E
None of these.
Use every piece of text from this test to answer the following questions.
39. A stylistic feature that enhances the speaker’s boredom is…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Simple language
Alliteration
Imagery
All of these
None of these
40. Though the speaker addresses the audience alone, the author emphasizes the power of the trio
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
by employing simple language.
by writing in three line stanzas.
by using irony in the speaker’s language.
All of these
None of these
Use all texts in this test to match the statements in the chart below.
41. Atwood’s writing style compared to
A
used to enhance the author’s purpose.
Austen’s is
42. Atwood’s writing style compared to
B
similar to the latter because they both
Shelley’s is
critique the “status quo” relationships
between men and women in their
respective time periods.
43. The author’s use of the word “creatures” C
different from the latter because the
in the excerpt on Sirens and “Spotlight
former example is referring to a humanon Women Writers in the Romantic
animal hybrid while the latter is referring
Period” is
to a female human.
44. The speaker in “Siren Song” compared
D
similar to the latter because the authors
to the narrator in the excerpt from
use irony to expose the societal
Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is
perceptions of males and females.
45. The narrator in “Siren Song” compared
E
None of these
to the narrator in the excerpt from the
“Author’s Introduction” to Shelley’s
Frankenstein is
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East Baton Rouge Parish School System
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Proficiency Test
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