GRE Literature in English (REA) (2 page)

Classical literature has exerted a strong influence over English literary history. You will need a solid foundation in the major works of Greek and Roman letters for the GRE Literature in English Subject Test.

In addition to the brief outline of the works we present below, it will be useful for you to become acquainted with some of the conventions of the epic form. An important convention that can be traced to Classical literary practice is beginning the action
in medias res
—Latin for “in the midst of things.” For instance, instead of being told chronologically,
The Odyssey
begins with Odysseus' adventures with the nymph Calypso; the earlier action is told in flashback. Another convention of English authors, particularly those of the Early Modern Period, is to introduce the poem with the epic invocation, a request for aid from the Muses.

 

 

HOMER

 

ETS draws the majority of Classical literature questions from Homer's
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey
. Reputed to be a blind man living in Greece circa the eighth century B.C., Homer is probably the most famous of the ancient poets. It is strongly recommended that you read or thoroughly familiarize yourself with both of these works.

 

 

The Iliad

 

Homer's poem,
The Iliad
, deals with events from nearly 300 years before his own time. The basic story revolves around the titanic war between the city of Troy and several Greek city-states. When Paris, son of the Trojan King Priam, abducts the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, the war begins. Menelaus' brother Agamemnon, the Spartan king, leads the Greek forces against the Trojans, who are led by Priam's son Hector. Throughout the poem, the gods on Olympus take sides in the conflict, elevating the chaos and destructiveness of the war.

The most powerful Greek warrior, the proud Achilles, sits on the sidelines refusing to fight because of a feud with Agamemnon. With the Trojans on the verge of victory, the Greek commanders implore Agamemnon to make peace with Achilles. This fails, but Achilles' dear friend Patroclos does enter the battle wearing Achilles' suit of armor. The Trojans are pushed back, but Hector kills Patroclos and provokes Achilles to a wild rage. He enters the fray in a suit of armor obtained through his mother, the demi-god Thetis, and kills Hector. In his rage he drags the Trojan hero's body through the dirt with a chariot. Priam's pleas move Achilles to return Hector's body.

 

 

The Odyssey

 

Homer's second major work picks up from the end of the Trojan War and traces the adventures of the Greek commander Odysseus and his troubled journey home to Ithaca. The complicated plot is told largely in a series of flashbacks that deal with Odysseus's adventures, including his encounter with the Cyclops; his visit to the enchanted isle of Circe, a sorceress who turns his men into pigs; and his perilous journey through the dangerous straits of the sea monsters Charybdis and Scylla. A second major component of the poem concerns Odysseus's wife, Penelope, who waits for her husband and fends off the hordes of suitors who are pressing for her hand in marriage. His son, Telemachus, escapes the malicious designs of the suitors, and when his father finally reaches Ithaca, helps him slaughter them
en masse
. Odysseus resumes his place in Ithaca with his faithful wife.

 

 

GREEK TRAGEDY

 

Greek drama is not as popular with ETS as Homer's epic poems, but you should be familiar with the major tragedians and some of their more important works. The three major Greek tragedians are Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides. Sophocles is best known for his Oedipus cycle:
Oedipus the King
,
Antigone
, and
Oedipus at Colonus. Oedipus the King
and
Antigone
are the major plays of the trilogy, particularly the former, telling the story of the doomed Oedipus, who solves the riddle of the sphinx and becomes King of Thebes. He has already unknowingly killed his father, the former King of Thebes, and upon assuming the throne, unknowingly marries his mother according to the Oracle's prophecy. When the truth is revealed, Oedipus, in horror, blinds himself, while his mother/wife Jocasta hangs herself in despair.
Antigone
tells the story of Oedipus's children. His daughter, the title character, defies the civil authority of Creon, Ruler of Thebes, who refuses to allow her brother's body to be properly buried.

Aeschylus is best known for his trilogy
The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Choeporoe
(or
The Libation Bearers
), and
Eumenides
. These plays tell of the cursed house of Atreus. Agamemnon is murdered upon his return from the Trojan War by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Agamemnon's son Orestes vows revenge and eventually kills his mother and her lover. The Furies, the horrifying divinities of revenge for intra-family murders, then pursue him. He is tormented to the point of madness until he is granted a trial, at which Athena votes in his favor, bringing an end to the family curse.

Euripides is not as important ultimately as Sophocles and Aeschylus; his major plays include
Medea
and
Phaedra
.

 

 

VIRGIL

 

The Roman poet Virgil (sometimes spelled Vergil), particularly his epic
The Aeneid
, is a cornerstone of Western literature. Virgil began his career with
The Eclogues
, a series of pastoral poems that were widely imitated in England and throughout Europe during the Renaissance. From
The Eclogues
, Virgil moved on to
The Georgics
, poems that dealt mainly with farming methods. The crowning achievement of Virgil's career was
The Aeneid
; the trajectory from pastoral poet to epic poet, known as the Virgilian career, was thought by many English authors to be the model for poets to follow.

 

 

The Aeneid

 

As with Homer's epic poems, the Trojan War is central to
The Aeneid
. The story follows the fate of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his quest to found a new Troy after the fall of his city. The theme of the epic ultimately is a patriotic one, culminating in the founding of a city that will eventually become Rome. During the course of his adventures, the goddess Juno continually vexes Aeneas. Notable episodes in the poem include Aeneas becoming the lover of the Carthaginian Queen Dido, who kills herself when Aeneas must return to his quest for a new home, and his journey to the underworld, where he converses with the shades of past heroes and relatives. This particular episode is an important model for Dante's
Inferno
.

Drill Questions

1. Both
   The Iliad
   and
   The Odyssey
   begin
   
   1. in medias res.
      
   2. with an epic metaphor.
      
   3. with an epic simile.
      
   4. at Colonus.
      
   5. at Thebes.
      
2. The author of the
   Oresteia
   trilogy is
   
   1. Atreus.
      
   2. Aeschylus.
      
   3. Homer.
      
   4. Sophocles.
      
   5. Agamemnon.
      

CONTINENTAL INFLUENCES

 

Non-English-language authors are not widely represented on the Subject Test, but you should be prepared for a few questions on some of the bigger names that tend to be mentioned. Probably the most important is Dante, whose
Divine Comedy
, written in the fourteenth century, is a major work in world literature.
The Comedy
is divided into three sections:
Inferno, Purgatorio
, and
Paradiso. Inferno
is by far the most famous, and you should try to be as familiar with it as possible. Although it is sometimes translated into English in prose, in its proper form it is poetry, in
terza rima
(lines of eleven syllables arranged in groups of three and in rhyming pattern of
ababcbcdc
). This form and the theme of divine retribution, wherein the punishment fits the crime, make
Inferno
fairly easy to spot.

The Spanish author Cervantes and his major seventeenth-century work
Don Quixote
may appear on the test. The tone of this work is mock heroic and satirical, dealing with an idealistic but somewhat simple-minded knight who goes on a quest to duel with windmills.

The great seventeenth-century French playwright Molière is known for his sharp wit and his memorable characters, including those in
The Misanthrope
and
The Imaginary Invalid.
In addition to these, you should become familiar with another of his works,
Tartuffe
.

Other figures likely to make an appearance on the Subject Test are novel writers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The most important nineteenth-century figures from ETS's perspective are the Russian authors Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and the French writers Verne and Flaubert. The latter's
Madame Bovary
is an important work that is worth skimming. Charles Baudelaire is another author you should be familiar with. His poetry is distinctive for its dark power and bleak view of humanity. In the twentieth century, non-European authors like Nigerian Chinua Achebe and his work
Things Fall Apart
are popular with ETS.
Things Fall Apart
is a short, quick read, and it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with it. Other twentieth-century authors that ETS may refer to include Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Jorge Luis Borges.

The major Anglo-Saxon work you need to know for the GRE Literature in English is
Beowulf. Beowulf
is an ancient poem that was transmitted orally by Anglo-Saxon bards for centuries before it was written down sometime in the eighth century. It is important to have some general knowledge of the formal qualities that distinguish Old English verse. Remember that it is organized largely by alliteration rather than rhyme, and that it is driven primarily by stressed syllables rather than regular alterations between stressed and unstressed.

The basic plot outline that follows should help you answer questions regarding
Beowulf
, but it is strongly advised that you take a look at the poem in the original Old English so that you have a greater sense of how the poetry operates and what the words look like.

The plot follows the adventures of Beowulf, a Swedish hero who is enlisted by the Danish King Hrothgar to kill the monster Grendel. Grendel's mother seeks revenge but is also slain by Beowulf, who then becomes King of the Geats. Renowned for his bravery and strength, he is called out of retirement years later to fight a dragon, which he kills. Beowulf is mortally wounded, but names the young Wiglaf as his successor.

Drill Questions

1. The Danes and the Geats are the subject of
   
   1. Beowulf.
      
   2. The Dream of the Rood.
      
   3. Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
      
   4. Piers Plowman.
      
   5. The Canterbury Tales.
      
2. The character Grendel in
   Beowulf
   is
   
   1. the monster.
      
   2. the monster's mother.
      
   3. Beowulf's closest friend.
      
   4. Beowulf's mother.
      
   5. Beowulf's father.