From: Matthew
Re: GAMSAT Section 1 Questions Unit 4

 

GAMSAT Section 1 Questions Unit 4

Unit 4
Questions 1-5

Carefully read and assess Keats’ classic poem – Ode on a Grecian Urn

 

1                     Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,             

       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape

       Of deities or mortals, or of both,

               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

10                     What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,

       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;

       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

20                          For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!     

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed

         Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

         For ever piping songs for ever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

         For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,

               For ever panting, and for ever young;

All breathing human passion far above,

         That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,

      30                              A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. 

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

         To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

         And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?

What little town by river or sea shore,

         Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,

               Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore

         Will silent be; and not a soul to tell

40                              Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

         Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

         Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

         When old age shall this generation waste,

               Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,

         “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

50                      Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

 

1. In Keats’ poem the reader is presented images:
A. which represent the Victorian era
B. which are inconsistent and contradictory
C. frozen and outside of time
D. sculptured with dynamism

2. An oxymoron is a juxtaposition of dissimilar words, which of the following phrases from the poem BEST represents an oxymoron?
A. peaceful citadel
B. slow time
C. wild ecstasy
D. parching tongue

3. A paradox is a literal contradiction. Which of the following statements from the poem is NOT a paradox? Which is the EXCEPTION?
A. unravish’d bride
B. heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard sweeter
C. maidens overwrought
D. ditties of no tone

4. The last two lines are in quotes. We never can actually know who is speaking the quote. This represents:
A. High Satire
B. Permanent Ambiguity
C. Narrative Irony
D. Romantic Uncertainty

5. In line 41, one can infer that the term “brede” can be defined as:
A. brought up
B. tribe or breed
C. embroidery
D. ornate sculpture

Answers – GAMSAT Section 1 Questions Unit 4

1. Correct Answer: C – the images on the urn are frozen within the sculpture and outside of time. A can be ruled out quickly. B can easily be deduced to be incorrect, and D is vague.

 2 Correct Answer: A – peaceful citadel. Citadels are created for war. B, C & D can be deduced to be incorrect rather easily.

 3 Correct Answer: C – maidens overwrought. All A, B, & C are paradoxes if read closely – literal contradictions.

 4 Correct Answer: B – Permanent Ambiguity – we will never know who is speaking. A & C can be ruled out quite quickly, while D sounds good, it does not capture the essence of B.

 5 Correct Answer: C – embroidery. A knowledge of Greek and Latin roots would help in answering this question. A, B & C are distractors. Also the passage is indicative of this embroidery:

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

                 Of marble men and maidens overwrought

___

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