"Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard" (1751)

Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard" (1751) was an immensely popular meditation on mortality that had a major influence on the early Romantics. The work has led Thomas Gray to be classified among the pre-Romantic Graveyard Poets.

"Elegy" is almost guaranteed to show up on the GRE Literature exam. Read this full text at least three times.

The poem is in four-line stanzas (ABAB), iambic pentameter.

Associate the following quotes with "Elegy:"

1. "Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest / Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood."

2. "The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

3. "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife"

William Cowper (1731-1800)

William Cowper (1731-1800), pronounced "cooper," was an popular English poet and hymnodist. His focus as a poet on the everyday life of the English countryside influenced the early Romantics. He famously suffered from severe depression. He was also a zealous evangelical Christian.

Cowper also translated Homer into blank verse--don't confuse him with Chapman.

On the GRE Literature exam, you're mostly likely to need to identify the following Cowper quotes:

1. "variety's the very spice of life"
2. "God made the country, and man the town"
3. "God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform"

Cowper is not worth adding to your GRE reading list.

"Tintern Abbey" (1798)

William Wordsworth's "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey" (1798) is one of the major early texts of the Romantic movement.

It is a textbook example of Wordsworth's definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility."

This poem is almost guaranteed to appear on the GRE Literature exam. You should read the full text (Wikisource) of the poem at least twice before the exam.

The Lucy poems (1789-1801)

William Wordsworth's Lucy poems (1789-1801) are five short lyrics originally published in the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads alongside the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The Lucy poems were central in establishing the early popularity of Romantic poetry, and one or more is almost guaranteed to appear on the GRE Literature exam. It's almost worth memorizing them. (Luckily, each mentions Lucy at or near the end.)

1. "Strange fits of passion I have known"
2. "She dwelt among the untrodden ways"
3. "I travelled among unknown men"
4. "Three years she grew in sun and shower"
5. "A slumber did my spirit seal"

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major English Romantic poet. His Lyrical Ballads, published with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798, is widely credited with launching the Romantic movement in England.

He famously sought to write poetry in "the real language of men," and defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility."

Wordsworth is a major figure on the GRE Literature exam.

1. "It is a Beauteous Evening (Calm and Free)"

2. "My heart leaps up (when I behold)"

3. "The world is too much with us"
-loosely follows the form of an Italian sonnet

4. "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey"
-Part of the Lyrical Ballads
(link goes to separate entry)

5. The "Lucy" poems
-Part of the Lyrical Ballads
(link goes to separate entry)

6. The Prelude
(link goes to separate entry)

The Prelude may be worth adding to your GRE reading list, but not as a high priority. I recommend William Wordsworth - The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics).

Gothic Novels (18th Century)

The Gothic novels of the 18th century were a combination of horror and romance. Almost universally, they contain some apparently supernatural plot elements, usually associated somehow with Catholicism, that later turn out to have natural explanations, a technique known as the gothic explique.

These novels were often criticized (and parodied) for their melodramatic tone.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following authors and works with the Gothic novel:

Horace Walpole (father of the form)
-The Castle of Otranto: Manfred, Conrad, Isabella

Anne Radcliffe (cited most often in the 19th century)
-The Mysteries of Udolpho: Montoni, Emily
-The Italian: VincentinoVivaldi, Ellena Rosalba

M.G. Lewis (events actually were supernatural)
-The Monk: Ambrosio, Mathilda

Jane Austen (parodying Radcliffe)
-Northanger Abbey: Catherine Morland, the Allens, Henry Tilney, John Thorpe

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), aka Dr. Johnson, was an English essayist, critic, poet, and novelist. He is probably most famous for the glowing biography written by James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, or for compiling the first modern English dictionary. He was destitute and unrecognized well into his forties, at which time he achieved a certain literary celebrity.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Samuel Johnson. In each case a summary knowledge will suffice.

1. "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (poem)
2. The Lives of the English Poets (literary biography)
3. The Rambler (journal)
-in which Johnson published essays frequently
4. Dictionary of the English Language
5. Rasselas (novel)

Johnson's work is probably not work reading in full for the GRE Literature exam.

Gulliver's Travels (1726)

Gulliver's Travels (1726) is a satiric novel by Jonathan Swift. The work is also a parody of the travel narratives popular at the time. The target of the satire is both humanity in general, and the specific social injustices of Swift's time.

Gulliver's Travels is complicated enough, and common enough on the GRE Literature exam, to merit its own entry. Read a summary and know the following key words from the novel:

1. Liliput
-A land where everyone is 6" tall
2. Brobdignag
-A land where everyone is enormously tall
3. Laputa
-A flying island
4. Struldburgs
-Unhappy immortals who wish they could die
5. Houyhnhnms
-Intelligent, clean-living, right-thinking horses
6. Yahoos
-Idiotic, dirty, violent creatures (humans)

Gulliver's Travels might be worth adding to your exam prep reading list. I recommend the Penguin Classics Edition.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a Irish-born English satirist. His work is very likely to appear on the GRE Literature exam.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Jonathan Swift.

1. Gulliver's Travels
-Worth knowing Liliput, Brobdignag, Laputa, Struldburgs, Houyhnhnms, and Yahoos
2. "A Modest Proposal"
-Swift ironically suggests that poor Irish infants might be sold to the rich as food.
3. A Tale of a Tub
-Religious satire: Peter (Catholicism) vs Jack (Calvinism & Dissenting Protestants) vs Martin (Luther, but also, confusingly, Anglicanism)

Gulliver's Travels might be worth adding to your exam prep reading list. I recommend the Penguin Classics Edition.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Robert Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish poet influential in the beginnings of the Romantic movement. He wrote poems in English, Scots, and Scottish dialect. Outside of Scottish and literary circles, he is best known as the author of "Auld Lang Syne."

Don't spend too much time on Burns--if you see Scottish-looking spellings, and Burns is a choice, pick him. However, it is worth at least skimming the following poems before the GRE Literature exam, and some of them are quite fun to read.

1. "A Red, Red Rose"
2. "Tam O'Shanter: A Tale"
-long; written in Scots; link goes to summary
3. "Ae Fond Kiss"
-Written in Scottish dialect
4. "Scots Wha Hae"
-Written in Scots; was an unofficial national anthem of Scotland

Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was one of the fathers of the English novel. He was also an established dramatist. His works are generally comic and frequently ironic. He was one of the first English novelists who (unlike, say, Defoe and Richardson) didn't try to pretend that his works were actual memoirs or letters.

Associate the following works with Henry Fielding.

Shamela and Joseph Andrews
-Both parodies of Richardson's Pamela.
-Joseph Andrews, Shamela's brother, appears to be resistant to losing his virginity.

Tom Jones
-Mocks the moral rigidity of contemporary writers.
-Characters: Tom, Squire Allworthy, Blifil, Lady Bridget, Sophia Western.
*Opening passage commonly appears on the exam.

If you want to read more, you can't really go wrong with any Fielding, but Joseph Andrews and Shamela, usually published together, are shorter.