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Review the following questions before you take the test on the English Renaissance.
Please note that the answer is listed an inch or two below the question to allow you to guess before seeing the answer.
____
1. “Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.”
In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” what pleasures does the shepherd offers his lady?
Those of the countryside
____
2. “Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies.
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.”
The speaker in “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” criticizes the shepherd’s promises as being—
Foolish and temporary
____
3. The “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” are similar in what
ways?
Rhyme scheme, length, meter
____
4. “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.”
The speaker in “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” uses the setting of the sun to emphasize —
The shortness of life
____
5. “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.”
What figure of speech is used in the line “The higher he’s a-getting”?
personification
____
6. “That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.”
In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” which part of life is the best?
Youth
____
7. “Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.”
In Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” the speaker says that he would wait patiently for the woman he
addresses if —
There were no limit to our time on earth
____
8. Both Herrick and Marvell, the authors of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and “To His Coy
Mistress” respectively, urge young women to —
love passionately without waiting any longer
____
9. “When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,”
The first four lines of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” could be paraphrased as —
When I sit alone and feel sorry for myself and my bad luck . . .
____ 10.
5
10
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
What does the speaker envy?
Other men’s riches, good looks, friends, talent, intelligence
____ 11. “Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.“
The speaker rouses himself out of his sadness by —
Thinking of the person he loves
____ 12. “That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.”
In “Sonnet 73”, what does Shakespeare compare to the choir lofts of churches?
Singing birds
____ 13.
5
10
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
In Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73,” in addition to late fall, give two other metaphors Shakespeare uses to describe old age:
Twilight and a dying fire
5
10
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red.
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks.
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks,
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by Heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
____ 14. Where does the “turn” come in “Sonnet 130”?
Line 13: “And yet, by Heaven, I think my love as rare “
5
10
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy:
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
Oh, could I lose all father now! for why
Will man lament the state he should envy—
To have so soon ’scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
And if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and asked, say, “Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry;
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such
As what he loves may never like too much.”
____15. What comfort does Jonson suggest is possible in lines 7–8 of Jonson’s “To My Son”?
Not having to deal with the troubles or hardships of the world
5
10
15
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I’ll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honoring thee
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent’st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself but thee.
____16. What does “thine” refer to in line 8 of Jonson’s “To Celia”
Her cup (her love)
____17. How do we know that this poem deals with unrequited love?
Because Celia returned the roses the speaker sent her.
____ 18. “Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude”
The first three lines of Shakespeare’s “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” could be paraphrased as —
People are such ingrates, their coldness is worse than a cold winter wind
____ 19. Since most of “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” is a criticism of man’s ingratitude, the line “This life is
most jolly,” should be seen as —
Sarcasm
____ 20. In “Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun,” line 4, “Home [you] art gone, and ta’en [taken] thy wages” means
that the person addressed is —
Dead
____ 21. “Home [you] art gone, and ta’en [taken] thy wages” is a figure of speech called —
Metaphor
____ 22. A fourteen-line poem that traditionally conforms to strict patterns of rhythm and rhyme is known as a(n)
—
Sonnet
5
10
Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
____23. According to the poem, why shouldn’t Death be proud?
Because Death is a slave to “fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.”
____24. Explain how rest and sleep are the “pictures” of Death (line 5).
When people are asleep they resemble the dead
____ 25. In “Meditation17” Donne’s words “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” means
that —
We are all affected by a death, even if it is not our own.
____26. The Tudor line of kings was started by
Henry VII
____27. What words means rule by a series of monarchs from the same family?
Dynasty
28. What movement joined the wisdom of the classics with that of the Bible, emphasizing ideals of wisdom and virtue?
Humanism
29. What invention made the reading and study of the Bible possible outside of the Church?
The printing press
____ 30. After the annulment of his first marriage, what actions did Henry VIII take against the Catholic Church?
Closed Catholic monasteries and sold Catholic Church lands
31.
Which sentence best states the belief Donne expresses in this passage?
a.
It is wrong to live in isolation, like a hermit.
b. Rich or poor, highborn or low, we are all still human beings.
c. Human beings are all interconnected.
d. No one should fear death, for death is a part of life.
c. Human beings are all interconnected.
32. Read this passage from Donne's Meditation 17. Then, answer the question(s).
What basic analogy does Donne use to make his main point?
a.
He compares islands to continents.
b. He compares Britain to continental Europe.
c. He compares human beings to bodies of land.
d. He compares the ringing of church bells to the stages of a person's life.
c. He compares human beings to bodies of land.
33. Read this passage from Donne's “Meditation 17.” Then, answer the question(s).
Based on the context in which it appears, what can you conclude clod means in the passage?
a.
fool
b. country bumpkin
c. bit of beef
d. clump of earth
d. clump of earth
34. Read these lines from "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick. Then, answer the
question(s).
Which of Herrick's lines most clearly expresses the carpe diem theme?
a.
line 1
b. line 3
c.
line 5
d. line 6
a.
line 1
35.
Which of these philosophical assumptions does Herrick make in these stanzas?
a.
Human beings need to learn the lessons of the past.
b. Human beings cannot escape the force of time.
c. Human beings can use science to harness the power of nature.
d. Human beings need to live close to nature.
b. Human beings cannot escape the force of time.
36. Read these lines from "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick. Then, answer the
question(s).
Which emotion is most clearly evoked by the images in lines 2–4?
a.
urgency
b. amazement
c. nostalgia
d. sorrow
a.
.
urgency
37. What is the most dominant literary genre in Elizabethan England, as celebrated by
Shakespeare and Milton?
A.
Sonnet
B.
Epic
C.
Funeral elegy
a.
38.
sonnet
The mode of literature in the 16th Century England that values the presentation of a simple and
humble life in a country, of shepherds and shepherdesses is called...
A.
satirical
B.
elegiac
C.
pastoral
b. pastoral
39.
The Sonnet, one the most important poetic genres in Renaissance period, was made famous in
Italy by...
A.
Shakespeare
B.
Petrarch
C.
Lady Mary Wroth
c.
Petrtarch
40.
A sonnet is a poem that consists of ...............lines.
A.
8 (eight)
B.
12 (twelve)
C.
14 (fourteen)
c.
14