American Literature I

"His lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret.  After some business transaction, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other.  Again he converses, for some fifteen minutes, upon the public affairs.  At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim." Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

He now became entangled in a succession of crooked and narrow streets, which crossed each other, and meandered at no great distance from the water-side. The smell of tar was obvious to his nostrils, the masts of vessels pierced the moonlight above the tops of the buildings, and the numerous signs, which [he] paused to read, informed him that he was near the centre of business. But the streets were empty, the shops were closed, and lights were visible only in the second stories of a few dwelling houses. Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

The Sketch Book is an example of the personal travel book, a genre that became popular in American literature.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

Well, then; I have received personal information, from a very high quarter, that a certain document of the last importance, has been purloined from the royal apartments. The individual who purloined it is known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, also, that it still remains in his possession. What is the meaning of the verb to purloin?

• A.

  To borrow

• B.

  To steal

• C.

  To ruin

• D.

  To return

In truth, all through the haunted forest, there could be nothing more frightful than the figure of ... On he flew, among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter, as set all the echoes of the forest echoing like demons around him. Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

I would not have it imagined, however, that he was one of those cruel potentates of the school, who joy in the smart of their subjects; on the contrary, he administered justice with discrimination rather than severity; taking the burthen off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. What is the meaning of the word "smart" in this context?

• A.

  Stupidity

• B.

  Silliness

• C.

  Pain

• D.

  Intelligence

But when to their feminine rage the indignation of the people is added, when the ignorant and the poor are aroused, when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow, it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment. What does “mow” mean in this context?

• A.

  To grimace

• B.

  To bleat like sheep

• C.

  To lift heavy things

• D.

  To cut grass

Apess concludes his piece by:

• A.

  Predicting the Apocalypse

• B.

  Declaring his intention to run for public office

• C.

  Calling for Native Americans to declare themselves independent of the U.S. government

• D.

  Exhorting his allies and advocates to continue working to end prejudice

"We also measured the thickness of every book-cover, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. Had any of the bindings been recently meddled with, it would have been utterly impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or six volumes, just from the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, longitudinally, with the needles." Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

Virtues are in the popular estimate rather the exception than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Write the name of the author, correctly spelled.

The annals of Massachusetts Bay will inform us, that of six governors, in the space of about forty years from the surrender of the old charter, under James II., two were imprisoned by a popular insurrection - a third, as Hutchinson inclines to believe, was driven from the province by the whizzing of a musket ball - a fourth, in the opinion of the same historian, was hastened to his grave by continual bickerings with the house of representatives - and the remaining two, as well as their successors, till the Revolution, were favored with few and brief intervals of peaceful sway. What is an "insurrection"?

• A.

  An act or instance of beginning

• B.

  An of revolting against civil authority

• C.

  The state of one risen from the dead

• D.

  The condition of being stopped

The cloud-spirits peeped from their silvery islands, as the congregated mirth went roaring up the sky! The Man in the Moon heard the far bellow. “Oho,” quoth he, “the old earth is frolicsome to-night!” This is:

• A.

  An autobiography

• B.

  A fairy tale

• C.

  Gothic fiction

• D.

  A novel

• E.

  A detective story

But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. This victim is killed because of:

• A.

  A letter

• B.

  His clouded eye

• C.

  His pact with the devil

• D.

  His loud heart beat

• E.

  His money

Let me for a few moments turn your attention to the reservations in the different states of New England, and, with but few exceptions, we shall find them as follows: the most mean, abject, miserable race of beings in the world - a complete place of prodigality and prostitution. What does "prodigality" mean?

• A.

  Wasteful extravagance

• B.

  Promiscuity

• C.

  Return from the dead

• D.

  Redemption

He now suspected that the great roysters of the mountain had put a trick upon him, and having dosed him with liquor, had robbed him of his gun. Wolf, too, had disappeared, but he might have strayed away after a squirrel or partridge. The word "roysters" means "roosters."

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

“Bryant, in his very learned ‘Mythology,’ mentions an analogous source of error, when he says that ‘although the Pagan fables are not believed, yet we forget ourselves continually, and make inferences from them as existing realities.’ With the algebraist, however, who are Pagans themselves, the ‘Pagan fables’ are believed, and the inferences are made, not so much through lapse of memory, as through an unaccountable addling of the brains.” Write the author's name in full, correctly spelled:

They measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is. But a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property, out of new respect for his nature. Especially he hates what he has, if he see that it is accidental, – came to him by inheritance, or gift, or crime; then he feels that it is not having; it does not belong to him, has no root in him, and merely lies there, because no revolution or no robber takes it away. Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been, ever since, growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish experiment—that of looking down within the tarn—had been to deepen the first singular impression. There can be no doubt that the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition—for why should I not so term it?—served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a basis. This work exemplifies:

• A.

  Unity of effect

• B.

  Ratiocinactive effect

• C.

  Cataleptic effect

• D.

  Didactic effect

• E.

  Delusion of effect

The cautious old gentleman knit his brows tenfold closer after this explanation, being sorely puzzled by the ratiocination of the syllogism; while methought the one in pepper and salt eyed him with something of a triumphant leer. At length he observed, that all this was very well, but still he thought the story a little extravagant – there were one or two points on which he had his doubts. “Faith, sir,” replied the story-teller, “as to that matter, I don’t believe one half of it myself.” Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

What ritual does the character resembling the devil attempt to perform in the woods, with goodman Brown as the object?

• A.

  A conversion

• B.

  A christening

• C.

  A wedding

• D.

  A baptism

All stood amazed, until an old woman, tottering out from among the crowd, put her hand to her brow, and peering under it in his face for a moment, exclaimed, "Sure enough! it is [he]—it is himself. Welcome home again, old neighbor. Why, where have you been these twenty years?” Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous luster of the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity. The character described in this passage:

• A.

  Commits suicide

• B.

  Devours a heart

• C.

  Meets the devil

• D.

  Kills an old man

• E.

  Buries someone alive

Let me refer you to the churches only.  And, my brethren, is there any agreement? Do brethren and sisters love one another? Do they not rather hate one another?  Outward forms and ceremonies, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and pride of life is of more value to many professors than the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, or an attachment to his altar, to his ordinances, or to his children.  But you may ask: Who are the children of God? Write the author's full name, correctly spelled:

In fact, he declared it was no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; every thing about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

Our simple habitations were soon consumed; we heard the foe retiring, and when the last sound had died away, we came forth to a sight that made us lament to be among the living. Write the full name of the author of this work, correctly spelled:

He had heard this destruction of the original possessors of the soil described, as we find it in the history of the times, where, we are told, "the number destroyed was about four hundred;" and "it was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and the horrible scent thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the praise thereof to God." This work is:

• A.

  An elegy

• B.

  A hortatory sermon

• C.

  A historial novel

• D.

  Gothic fiction

• E.

  A narrative frame

In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues; while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. What is the meaning of the word audacity?

• A.

  Fearless daring or aggressive boldness

• B.

  Auditory city

• C.

  Authority

• D.

  Insanity or dementia

Well into the middle of the 19th century boys and girls alike were protected from sexually frank classics written in Greek and Latin.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

Apess claims that Native Americans in New England are the "most mean, abject, miserable race of beings in the world." Which of the following is NOT a reason he offers as an explanation for their misery?

• A.

  They are victimized by corrupt Indian Agents appointed by the government.

• B.

  They are not provided with adequate education.

• C.

  They are legally denied the right to engage in commerce.

• D.

  Native American women have been seduced and abandoned by white men.

Peter Van der Donk was a real New Netherlands historian.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

I knew him, however, as both mathematician and poet, and my measures were adapted to his capacity, with reference to the circumstances by which he was surrounded. I knew him as a courtier, too, and as a bold intriguant. Such a man, I considered, could not fail to be aware of the ordinary political modes of action. Who is speaking?

• A.

  Brown

• B.

  Brom Bones

• C.

  Rip

• D.

  Robin

• E.

  Dupin

“A blight came down, a blast swept by, The cone-roof’d cabins fell, And where that exil’d people fled, It is not ours to tell.” Write the title of this work, correctly spelled:

"The boy sleeps safely," muttered the old man, and I have listened to the idle fear of a doating mother."   "I come not of a fearful race," said my mother. Write the full name of the author of this work, correctly spelled:

I have even talked with [him] myself, who, when last I saw him, was a very venerable old man, and so perfectly rational and consistent on every other point, that I think no conscientious person could refuse to take this into the bargain; nay, I have seen a certificate on the subject taken before a country justice and signed with a cross, in the justice’s own handwriting. The story, therefore, is beyond the possibility of a doubt. Write the author's name in full, correctly spelled:

The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head.  It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and anon seen by the country folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind. Write the author's name in full, correctly spelled:

I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. Write full name of author, correctly spelled:

After the kings of Great Britain had assumed the right of appointing the colonial governors, the measure of the latter seldom met with the ready and general approbation, which had been paid to those of their predecessors, under the original charters. Write title of this work, correctly spelled:

He was famed for great skill in horsemanship; he was foremost at all races and cockfights; and, with the ascendancy which bodily strength acquires in rustic life, was the umpire in all disputes. He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic, but had more mischief and good humor than ill will in his composition. Who is this?

• A.

  Cotton Mather

• B.

  Diedrich Knickerbocker

• C.

  Brom Bones

• D.

  Geoffrey Crayon

• E.

  Ichabod Crane

"Full of these ideas, I prepared myself with a pair of green spectacles, and called one fine morning, quite by accident, at the Ministerial hotel.  I found D—— at home, yawning, lounging, and dawdling, as usual, and pretending to be in the last extremity of ennui. He is, perhaps, the most really energetic human being now alive—but that is only when nobody sees him." Write the author's name in full, correctly spelled:

I was astounded. The Perfect appeared absolutely thunderstricken. For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, less, looking incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed starting from their sockets; then, apparently in some measure, he seized a pen, and after several pauses and vacant stares, finally filled up and signed a check for fifty thousand francs, and handed it across the table to [my friend]. Write the author's name in full, correctly spelled:

Emerson believed that people should not strive to fit in.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

I ask: Is it not the case that everybody that is not white is treated with contempt and counted as barbarians? And I ask if the word of God justifies the white man in so doing. When the prophets prophesied, of whom did they speak? When they spoke of heathens, was it not the whites and others who were counted Gentiles? And I ask if all nations with the exception of the Jews were not counted heathens. This passage exemplifies:

• A.

  Jamming

• B.

  Snaring

• C.

  Foreshadowing

• D.

  Hortatory sermon

• E.

  Framing

At the beginning of the period of 1820-1865 fiction was still seen as a threat, likely to inflame the imagination and passion of susceptible young readers, in particular of young women.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

"Can this be so!" cried goodman Brown, with a stare of amazement at his undisturbed companion. Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council - they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husbandman, like me. But, were I to go on with thee, how should I meet the eye of that good old man, our minister, at Salem village? Oh, his voice would make me tremble, both Sabbath-day and lecture-day!" The word "husbandman" usually means farmer, but in this context it means something else - what?

• A.

  Rancher

• B.

  Male partner in a marriage

• C.

  Cowboy

• D.

  Man of ordinary status

This character survived a massacre:

• A.

  Faith

• B.

  Hope

• C.

  Magawisca

• D.

  Katrina

• E.

  Madeline

But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints. Scattered also among their pale-faced enemies were the Indian priests, or powwows, who had often scared their native forest with more hideous incantations than any known to English witchcraft. Write the author's full name, correctly spelled:

Of the two, reverend Sir,” said the voice like the deacon’s, “I had rather miss an ordination-dinner than to-night’s meeting. They tell me that some of our community are to be here from Falmouth and beyond, and others from Connecticut and Rhode-Island; besides several of the Indian powows, who, after their fashion, know almost as much deviltry as the best of us. A “powow” in this context is:

• A.

  A devil-worshipper

• B.

  A boxer

• C.

  An apples-salesman

• D.

  A medicine man

It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of this picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down-but with a shudder even more thrilling than before-upon the re-modelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant eye-like windows. "Sedge" is a plant.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

The ambitious spirits of his brother chieftain Sassacus, had ever aspired to dominion over the allied tribes - and immediately after the appearance of the English, the same temper was manifest in a jealousy of their encroachments. He employed all his art and influence and authority, to unite the tribes for the extirpation of the dangerous invaders. Mononotto, on the contrary, averse to all hostility, and foreseeing no danger from them, was the advocate of a hospitable reception, and pacific conduct. What does "extirpation" mean?

• A.

  Execution

• B.

  Going to extremes

• C.

  Extermination

• D.

  Expatriating