SAT Literature: Context, Speaker, and Addressee

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; 2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. 3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, 4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. 5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why 6          Will man lament the state he should envy? 7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage, 8          And if no other misery, yet age! 9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie 10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry, 11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such 12        As what he loves may never like too much." Who is the speaker of this poem?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 1          How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 2          I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 3          My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 4          For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 5          I love thee to the level of everyday"s 6          Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 7          I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 8          I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. 9          I love thee with the passion put to use 10        In my old griefs, and with my childhood"s faith. 11        I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 12        With my lost saints – I love thee with the breath, 13        Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose, 14        I shall but love thee better after death. For whom is this poem likely intended?

1    Devouring time, blunt thou the lion"s paws, 2    And Make the earth devour her own sweet brood;  3    Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger"s jaws, 4    And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;  5    Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet"st 6    And do whate"er thou wilt, swift-footed time, 7    To the wide world and all her fading sweets; 8    But I forbid thee one most heinous crime,  9    O carve not with thy hours my love"s fair brow, 10  Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen. 11  Him in thy course untainted do allow, 12  For yet beauty"s pattern to succeeding men. 13     Yet do thy worst, old time; despite thy wrong, 14     My love shall in my verse ever live young.    (1609) To whom is the poet speaking?

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,Who after birth didst by my side remain,Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,Who thee abroad, expos’d to public view,Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge,Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).At thy return my blushing was not small,My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,I cast thee by as one unfit for light,Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;Yet being mine own, at length affection wouldThy blemishes amend, if so I could:I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;In better dress to trim thee was my mind,But nought save home-spun cloth, i’ th’ house I find.In this array ’mongst vulgars mayst thou roam.In critics" hands, beware thou dost not come;And take thy way where yet thou art not known,If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none:And for thy mother, she alas is poor,Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door. All of the following emotions can be attributed to the speaker EXCEPT __________.

1 Those lines that I before have writ do lie,   Even those that said I could not love you dearer;   Yet then my judgment knew no reason why   My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. 5 But reckoning Time, whose million"d accidents    Creep in "twixt vows and change decrees of kings,    Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp"st intents,    Divert strong minds to the course of altering things; 9 Alas, why, fearing of Time"s tyranny,    Might I not then say "Now I love you best,"    When I was certain o"er incertainty,    Crowning the present, doubting of the rest? 13 Love is a babe; then might I not say so,    To give full growth to that which still doth grow?  (1609) The speaker of the poem is addressing _______________.

1 They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 2 Love and desire and hate: 3 I think they have no portion in us after 4 We pass the gate.    5 They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 6 Out of a misty dream 7 Our path emerges for a while, then closes 8 Within a dream.  (1896) "Us" (line 3), "we" (line 4), and "our" (line 7) refer to whom?

Of arms I sing, and of the man, whom Fate First drove from Troy to the Lavinian shore. Full many an evil, through the mindful hate Of cruel Juno, from the gods he bore, Much tost on earth and ocean, yea, and more   (5) In war enduring, ere he built a home, And his loved household-deities brought o’er To Latium, whence the Latin people come, Whence rose the Alban sires, and walls of lofty Rome. In line 3, what does “Full many an evil” refer to?

Hear the mellow wedding bells,  Golden bells!  What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight!(5) From the molten golden-notes,  And all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats  To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon!(10) Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! Which word in this passage best encapsulates what the poet is trying to imitate?

… 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) Based on context, the narrator likely sees himself as which of the following?