Elements of Romantic Literature

A(n) _____ is a reference to something outside of a text.

• allegory

• irony

• allusion

• sarcasm

Which literary device is employed in the following sentence from Herman Melville’s short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener"?

And here Bartleby makes his home, sole spectator of a solitude which he has seen all populous—a sort of innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage!

• allegory

• allusion

• irony

• symbolism

A(n) _____ is a narrative story that teaches a lesson.

• allegory

• tale

• symbolism

• non-fiction

Something that authors use to add humor or context to their stories, often by employing opposite examples, is _____.

• allusion

• allegory

• irony

• sarcasm

Which of the following was an important element of romantic literature?

• rationalism and well-reasoned ideas

• an emphasis on society

• personal and spiritual exploration

• organized religious movements

Which of these sentences highlights Widow Wycherly’s vanity in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment"?

• She stood before the mirror curtesying and simpering to her own image, and greeting it as the friend whom she loved better than all the world beside.

• As for the Widow Wycherly, tradition tells us that she was a great beauty in her day; but, for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the gentry of the town against her.

• The Widow Wycherly—if so fresh a damsel could be called a widow—tripped up to the doctor's chair, with a mischievous merriment in her rosy face.

• Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, her warm breath fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove to disengage herself, yet still remained in their triple embrace.

Which sentence in this passage from Herman Melville’s short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is an example of verbal irony?

• I seldom lose my temper, much more seldom indulge in dangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages.

• At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom.

• Owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my chambers’ being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern.

• In that direction, my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade, which wall required no spyglass to bring out its lurking beauties, but, for the benefit of all nearsighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my windowpanes.

Which sentence in this excerpt from Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" best exhibits the use of verbal irony?

• Before, I had never experienced aught but a not unpleasing sadness.

• Upon inspection, the drawer exhibited a great array of the shells of various sorts of nuts.

• So he sent him to my office, as student at law, errand boy, cleaner and sweeper, at the rate of one dollar a week.

• For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me.

An allegory is a story that uses characters and settings as symbols that carry a deeper meaning beyond the obvious meaning of the story. Which excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" best reveals the allegorical nature of this short story?

• A strange chillness, whether of the body or spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all.

• But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves.

• Then all shouted mirthfully, and leaped about the room.

• With a shuddering impulse, that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands before her face, and wished that the coffin-lid were over it, since it could be no longer beautiful.

In this excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment," which two sentences best summarize the passage?

His guests shivered again. A strange chillness, whether of the body or spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all. They gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched away a charm, and left a deepening furrow where none had been before. Was it an illusion? Had the changes of a lifetime been crowded into so brief a space, and were they now four aged people, sitting with their old friend, Dr. Heidegger?

"Are we grown old again, so soon?" cried they, dolefully.

In truth they had. The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine. The delirium which it created had effervesced away. Yes! they were old again. With a shuddering impulse, that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands before her face, and wished that the coffin-lid were over it, since it could be no longer beautiful.

"Yes, friends, ye are old again," said Dr. Heidegger, "and lo! the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well, I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it; no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!"

But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of Youth.

• The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine.

• But the doctor's four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. They resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florida, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of Youth.

• strange chillness, whether of the body or spirit they could not tell, was creeping gradually over them all. They gazed at one another, and fancied that each fleeting moment snatched away a charm, and left a deepening furrow where none had been before.

• Well, I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it; no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!"