George Eliot (1819-1880)

George Eliot (1819-1880), aka Mary Anne Evans, was a Victorian realist novelist. Her works usually take place in the English countryside.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with George Eliot. Be sure to read the linked plot summaries at least twice before the exam.

1. Adam Bede (1859)
-Seth, Dinah, Mr. Irwine, Lisbeth, Hetty, Arthur

2. The Mill on the Floss (1860)

3. Silas Marner (1861)
-Silas Marner, Godfrey Cass, Molly, Eppie

4. Middlemarch (1871-2)
-Dorothea Brooke
-famously admired by Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"

Middlemarch may be worth adding to your GRE Literature reading list. I recommend the Barnes & Noble Classics Edition.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was a Victorian novelist.

Don't confuse him with the 17th-century poet who wrote Hudibras.

For the GRE Literature Exam, associate the following works with Samuel Butler:

1. Erewhon (1872, aka "Nowhere")
-Satire of Victorian society; parody of Utopia; similar to Gulliver's Travels

2. The Way of All Flesh (1903)
-Four generations of the Pontifex family; attacks Victorian-era (sexual) hypocrisy

Samuel Butler is not worth adding to your GRE Literature reading list.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) was a Victorian-era decadent poet. He was friends with Dante Gabriel Rosetti, the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

There's a distant chance Swinburne's work might appear on the GRE Literature exam, but it's more likely you'll simply be expected to know the following facts:

1. His work was extremely controversial in his day.
2. Works often include sadomasochism, lesbianism, anti-religious outrage, and an implied death-wish.

His work is not work adding to your GRE Literature reading list.

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was a British Victorian poet and humanist critic.

Besides familiarity with "Dover Beach" (his most famous poem), for the GRE Literature Exam, it's enough to know that he was a Classicist with a special fondness for the Greeks, his critical works often have moral or ethical overtones, many of his critical works deal with strongly personal themes, and he liked to bash philistines.

1. "Dover Beach"
-Often seen as an early example of modern sentiments.
-Laments the loss of (religious) faith.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a British Victorian essayist, philosopher, and political economist. He was a classical liberal and a leading proponent of utilitarianism.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with J. S. Mill. In each case, a summary knowledge of the content will suffice.

1. On Liberty
-Most famous for its concept of the tyranny of the majority.
2. The Subjection of Women
-Co-written by his wife; an early argument (1869) for the equality of the sexes.
3. Autobiography
-All you need to know is that it includes an extended account of a bout of depression ("melancholia"); the GRE folks like to trip you up with this one, since it's not typical Mill.
4. "What is Poetry"
-Link goes to a summary of the central arguments.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was a British Victorian essayist and theologian. He began his career in the Anglican church and later became a Roman Catholic cardinal.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Newman. For each of the works below, a general knowledge of the content will suffice.

1. Apologia Pro Vita Sua
-Newman's explanation of his decision to convert to Catholicism.
2. The Idea of a University (link to full text--skim only)
-Outlining a Catholic approach to education and the liberal arts

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a Scottish Victorian essayist and satirist. He's most famous for calling economics "the dismal science."

Sartor Resartus is the work most likely to appear on the GRE Literature Exam.

Sartor Resartus (Latin, meaning roughly "The Tailor Re-tailored" or "The Tailor Re-clothed") is intentionally difficult to classify: it flits between satire and serious philosophy, between fact and fiction. The word was published in Boston with a preface by Emerson, where the work had a major effect on Transcendentalism.

For the exam, it's usually enough to be able to recognize the following characters and keywords as belonging to Carlyle's Sartor Resartus:

-Diogenes Teufelsdröckh (Latin, "God-born," and German, "Devil-shit")
-The Wanderer (another name for Teufelsdröckh)
-The Everlasting Yea (roughly, spiritual faith)
-The Everlasting No (roughly, spiritual doubt or cynicism)
-Weissnichtwo (Teufelsdröckh's hometown; German, "know not where")

If you want to go deeper, I recommend the Oxford World's Classics Edition.

"Ulysses" (poem)

"Ulysses" (1833, pub. 1842) is a dramatic monologue by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is almost guaranteed to appear on the GRE Literature exam.

For the test, know that Ulysses serves as a kind of epilogue to Homer's Odyssey. The poem takes place three years after Odysseus returns to Ithaca, at which point Odysseus begins to yearn for adventure again, though he doubts his strength in his old age.

You should know the following lines well:

"It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me."

"Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was an English Victorian poet and one of the most popular English poets of all time. Example of his work, often identifiable by its classical and Arthurian influences, are almost guaranteed to show up on the GRE Literature test.

For the test, associate the following works with Tennyson. For In Memoriam A.H.H, a summary and an excerpt will suffice; poems in bold should be read multiple times before the exam.

1. "Ulysses"
-An imagined epilogue to Homer's Odyssey; in blank verse
2. "Break, break, break"
3. "The Lotos-Eaters"
-Spenserian stanzas; an episode from Homer's Odyssey
4. In Memoriam A.H.H.
-The "In Memoriam" stanza: ABBA iambic tetrameter
5. "The Lady of Shalott"
-Arthurian
6. "Mariana"
7. "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
-Probably his most popular, but unlikely to appear on the exam.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1884-1889)

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1884-1889) was a British Victorian poet. He converted to Catholicism and became a Jesuit priest. He has been more popular in the 20th century than he was in the 19th.

He's known for formal experimentation, especially with prosody. His sprung rhythm gives his works a very unique sound.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Gerard Manley Hopkins. Poems in bold should be read multiple times before the exam.

1. "Carrion Comfort"
2. "The Windhover, to Christ our Lord"
3. "Pied Beauty"
4. "Spring & Fall"
5. "Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend"