Licensure

Examination for
Teachers (LET)

GEN ED
LITERATURE

Ali G. Anudin
Faculty of Arts and
Languages
PNU, Manila
What does the LET-Literature test?

1. Content knowledge WHO, WHAT, WHERE,

WHEN & HOW

2. Literary skills INTERPRETATION

SKIMMING, SCANNING,
3. Overall reading MAKING INFERENCES,
skills DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
 What does the LET-Literature
exam test?
1. Content writers, works (characters,
plot, symbolisms, etc.), literary
knowledge theory, lit. terms

2. Literary skills Line interpretation,

analysis of symbols,
characterization,

3. Overall reading SKIMMING, SCANNING,

MAKING INFERENCES,
skills DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
 AUTUMN
Rainer Maria Rilke

1 The leaves are falling, falling as from far,

2 as though above were withering farthest gardens;
3 they fall with a denying attitude.
4 And night by night, down into solitude,
5 the heavy earth falls from every star.
6 We are all falling. This hand’s falling too -
7 all have this falling sickness none withstands.
8 And yet there’s One whose gently holding hands
9 this universal falling can’t fall through.
1. What figure of speech is used in
lines 1 and 2?

A. Simile   
B. Personification
C. Metaphor   A
D. Hyperbole
2. What is the subject of the poem?

A. Leaves
B. Dying
C. Autumn
D. Garden
C
3. What lines state the theme of the poem?

A. Lines 1-3 C. lines 2-5

B. lines 4-7 D. lines 6-9 D
4. They in line 3 refers to
A. Gardens  
B. Leaves
C. Attitude
  D. Trees C
5. Who/what could be the One referred
to in line 8?
A. People   
B. Universe
C. Author
D. God D
6. What is the theme of the poem?

A. The end of the world

B. Life after death
C
C. Universality of death
D. Autumn represents death
O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is
done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the
prize we sought is won. - Walt Whitman

1. Who is the persona in the poem?

A. captain

C
B. fisherman
C. soldier
D. traveler 
2. How old must the speaker be?
When I was one and twenty
I heard a wise man say,
Give crowns and pounds and gowns
But not your heart away
Alfred Edward Housman

A. over 21
B. 21 years
C. below 21
A
D. 20 years
3. What did the wise man advice the
persona to do?

A. give crowns and pounds and gowns

B. give everything except one’s heart
C. give everything away
give love and wealth
B
D.
Tell me not sweet, I am unkind
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly - Richard Lovelace

4. Who could be the persona in the poem?

A. husband C. nun

 
B. warrior D. bird  A
5. Who is the addressee?
A. wife
B. warrior
C. nun
D. bird
A
1. It is the most basic and traditional
form of plot, whose structure was
described in more details by Aristotle
and Gustav Freytag.

A. Linear
B. Circular
C. En medias res
D. Pyramid
Aristotle’s Unified Plot

The basic triangle-shaped plot structure was

described by Aristotle in 350 BCE. Aristotle used
the beginning, middle, and end structure to
describe a story that moved along a linear path,
following a chain of cause and effect as it works
toward the solution of a conflict or crisis.
Freytag’s Plot Structure

Freytag modified Aristotle’s system by adding

a rising action (or complication) and a falling
action to the structure. Freytag used the five-
part design shown above to describe a story’s
plot.
Types of PLOTS

Linear – actions or events are arranged

chronologically. This is the most
common plot because it follows the
natural order of events.

Long ago…then…next…afterwards…
years later…finally
Types of PLOTS
Circular – this type of development
combines linear with flashback. The
opening scene will be repeated in the
series toward or at the end.
Types of PLOTS

En Medias Res – the

story begins in the
middle part of the
action.
2.It is the dramatic struggle between
two forces in a story and without
it there is no plot.

A. Setting
B. Characters
C. Conflict
D. Theme
Conflict
Conflict is the dramatic struggle
between two forces in a story.
Without conflict, there is no
plot.
3. The hills across the valley of Ebro
were long and white. On this side was
no shade and no trees and the station
was between two lines of rails in the
sun.
What element of fiction does the above
paragraph best describe?
A. atmosphere C. theme
B. setting D. tone
4. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps
that was why what would have been merely
plumpness in another was obesity in her. She
looked bloated, like a body long submerged in
motionless water, and of that pallied hue.
What does the author reveal about the main
character?

A. outer actions
B. inner feelings
C. physical characteristics
D. effect on other characters
Read the excerpt and answer the questions that
follow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
- Stopping by the Woods
5. What figure of speech was used?
a. Simile c. personification
b. Metaphor d. hyperbole

X. The atmosphere implied in the same stanza can be described as

a. quiet and somber c. noisy and chaotic
b. happy and festive d. terrifying and frightening
 Poverty’s child—
He starts to grind the rice
And gazes at the moon.
- Basho
6. The haiku suggests the idea that ___________.

A. nature offers the only consolation to a lonely life

B. life as symbolized by the rice is difficult for the
child
C. humans are lucky to see the moon on a clear night
D. poverty makes the child feel hopeless and pitiful
Haiku – Japanese poetry consisting of 17 syllables
(morae) in three metrical phrases of 5-7-5 syllables
respectively. It generally contains a KIGO or season
word.

Summer – cicadas, fireflies

Spring – frogs, cherry blossoms (late spring)
Fall - moon, migratory birds, falling leaves,
scarecrows, crickets, chrysanthemums, lengthening
nights, graveside visits, charcoal kilns, medicinal
roots, gourds, persimmons, apples, and vines.
Winter - snow, bowl-beating rituals or begging,
allusions to failing strength, charcoal fires, banked
fires, socks drying, the old calendar, mochi (festive
rice-cakes) and mochi sellers.
 Haiku

A giant firefly:
that way, this way, that way, this –
and it passes by.
--Issa (1762-1826)
Tanka - consists of five units (often treated as separate
lines when Romanized or translated) usually with the
Poetry
following syllable pattern: 5-7-5-7-7.

What are they to me,

Silver, or gold, or jewels?
How could they ever
Equal the greater treasure
That is a child? They can not.
trans Edwin Cranston
Choka - a poem that consists of
Poetry
alternate lines of five and seven
syllables with an additional
seven-syllable line at the end.
Unlike other Japanese verse
forms, there is no limit to the
number of lines in a choka.
The Moth there is no freedom
escaping from my cocoon
I must seek you once again
I am drawn to you
like a moth to a candle
circling nearer and nearer
the deadly flame calls
now my wings are scorched
why must my nature be so?
Teagan
When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
(from Sonnet 29 by Shakespeare)
7. The persona in the poem is one who
A. dislikes to have many friends
B. hates to lose his wealth
C. does not need anything from anybody
D. feels miserable and embarrassed

8. What do lines 5-8 reveal about the persona?

A. ambitious C. hopeless
B. envious D. imaginative
 Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the bank of the distant river
I have never known you.
(from Africa by David Diop)

9. How is Africa described in this poem?

A. primitive and backward C. free and paradise-like
B. passive and quiet D. violent and chaotic

10. Line 5 tells us that the speaker

A. misses his grandmother
B. longs for Africa of the past
C. wants to see the African warriors
D. wishes to know more about his country
1 Africa, tell me, Africa
2 Is this you?
3 This back that is bent 
4 This back that breaks under the weight of humiliation
5 This back trembling with red sears
6 And saying yes to the whip of the midday sun

11. The tone of the persona is __________________.

A. angry and bitter C. envious and spiteful
B. ironic and sarcastic D. cautious and fearful
12. The word ‘back’ in lines 3-5 emphasizes and suggests the

A. hard life of the black people in working on their land

B. suffering of Africa under the hands of the colonizers
C. tragic consequence of being born black and poor
D. ignorance of the Africans about their human rights

13. The word ‘back’ in lines 3-5 shows the use of the figure
speech called _______________.

A. metonymy C. metaphor
B. simile D. synecdoche
14. The Divine Comedy of Dante has for its theme
A. repentance, forgiveness and salvation.
B. sloth, lust and gluttony.
C. Power, wealth and glory.
D. War, adventure and victory.

15. Epics are long, narrative poems that recount the

supernatural deeds of a hero, and the theme is the

A. power of love.
B. triumph of good versus evil.
C. importance of duty
D. Necessity of war to find peace.
The Divine Comedy – written by
Dante, is the great epic of Italy and of
Medieval Christianity.

The epic has three parts: Inferno,

Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The great
purpose to be accomplished in the
epic is the salvation of soul.
16. One of the general themes in Shakespearean
play is
A. jealousy and hate.
B. Love and ambition.
C. Hypocrisy and pretentiousness
D. Order and disorder
 
17. One specific theme in Shakespearean plays is
moral and spiritual turmoil that causes some
mental conflict and this is evident in
A. Romeo and Juliet C. Hamlet
B. Anthony and Cleopatra D. Julius Caesar
“It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to
A close, I had completed the eight, the ninth, and the
Tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the
Eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted
And plastered in,
I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially
In its destined position. But now there came from out
the Niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my
head…

- Edgar Allan Poe

18. This part of the short story “The Cask of
Amontillado” creates an atmosphere of
A. suspense and thrill
B. excitement and happiness
C. sadness and sullenness
D. terror and horror

19. The images that help create the atmosphere in

the passage from the “The Cask of Amontillado”
are mostly clearly shown in Sentences

A.1 & 2 B. 3 & 4 C. 2 & 4 D. 1 & 3

20. It is a literary medium distinguished
from poetry especially by greater
irregularity and variety of rhythm and its
closed resemblance to the patterns of
everyday speech.

A. Poetry
B. Prose
C. Sonnet
D. Elegy
21. It is a short narrative poem, which
could be sung. It’s very short and told in
great rapidity. It told a simple, serious
story, which usually had a tragic ending;
love, tragedy, and the supernatural
predominated.

A. Ode C. Sonnet
B. Elegy D. Ballad
Ode It is the most majestic type of lyric
poetry. It expresses enthusiasm, lofty praise
of some person or thing, deep reflection or
restrained feeling.

Elegy a poem of serious reflection, typically a

lament for the dead.

Sonnet a poem of fourteen lines using any of

a number of formal rhyme schemes, in
English typically having ten syllables per line.
22. Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s
Travels” is an example of:

A. Autobiography
B. Parody
C. Satire
D. Tragedy
Autobiography an account of a person's life written by that
person: he gives a vivid description of his childhood in his
autobiography.

Parody an imitation of the style of a particular writer,

artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect

Satire the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to

expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly
in the context of contemporary politics and other topical
issues.

Tragedy an event causing great suffering, destruction, and

distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural
catastrophe.
23. It is England’s oldest epic, which is
about the heroic deeds of a protagonist
who helps save the kingdom of
Heorot.

A. Hercules
B. Beowulf
C. Achilles
D. Prometheus
24. It is the genre of dramatic literature
that deals with the light or amusing or
with the serious and profound in a light,
familiar, or satirical manner.

A. Drama
B. Allegory
C. Farce
D. Comedy
Allegory a story, poem, or picture that can
be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning,
typically a moral or political one.

Farce a comic dramatic work using

buffoonery and horseplay and typically
including crude characterization and
ludicrously improbable situations.
25. It is known as the great epic of Persia,
a story which tells of the struggle of
Persia to overthrow her enemies. It was
written by Firdausi meaning “Singer of
Paradise.”

A. The Nibelungenlied
B. The Shah Namah
C. The Cid
D. The Song of Roland
The Nibelungenlied – a folk epic
consisting of 39 parts called
adventures.

It tells the story of Siegfried and how

he helped King Gunther win his
bride. It is also about the lack of
union between rival, kindred tribes.
The Cid – is the great epic of Spain,
written about 1200 A.D.

The story tells of the deeds of the

great “Cid” or “lord”, Rodrigo in his
wars with the Moors.
The Song of Roland – the great epic of
France was probably written near the
end of the 11th century.

The story depicted the great struggle of

Christian knights of France under
Charlemagne against the Moors or the
Mohammedans.
26. It is the organization and presentation of
events and scenes in a work of fiction or
drama so that the reader or observer is
prepared to some degree for what occurs
later in the work.

A. Flashback
B. En Medias Res
C. Foreshadowing
D. Stream of Consciousness
27. It is a novel told through the medium of
letters by one or more of the characters.
This was one of the earliest forms of the
novel to be developed.

A. Picaresque novel
B. Epistolary novel
C. Gothic novel
D. Roman- a -Clef
Picaresque novel – an early form of the
novel, usually a first-person narrative,
relating the adventures of a rogue or
lowborn adventurer (Spanish: picaro) who
drifts from place to place and from one social
milieu to another in an effort to survive.

Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes; The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark
Twain
Gothic novel – European Romantic,
pseudo medieval fiction having a
prevailing atmosphere of mystery and
terror.

Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft

Shelley; Dracula – Bram Stoker; Jane
Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Roman- a -Clef – French, literally it
means novel with a key.

A novel that has extra literary

interest of portraying identifiable,
sometimes real people more or less
thinly disguised as fictional
characters.
28. It is the most majestic type of lyric poetry.
It expresses enthusiasm, lofty praise of some
person or thing, deep reflection or restrained
feeling.

A. Ode
B. Elegy
C. Sonnet
D. Ballad
29. “ I am the master of my fate, I am
the captain of my soul” was written
by

A. Henley
B. Dickens
C. Elliot
D. Shelley
30. America’s greatest humorist

A. Benjamin Franklin
B. Mark twain
C. Washington Irving
D. Samuel Clemens
31. Considered the father of the modern
American short story

A. Shakespeare
B. Bacon
C. Edgar Allan Poe
D. Robert frost
32. It is a Japanese poem with 17
syllables.

A. Niponggo
B. Haiku
C. Canto
D. Tanaga
CANTO - one of the sections into which certain
long poems are divided.

TANAGA - is a type of Filipino poem,

consisting of four lines with seven syllables
each with the same rhyme at the end of each
line --- that is to say a 7-7-7-7 Syllabic verse,
with an AABB rhyme scheme as in this
example:
In the modern Tagalog syllabication:
"Katitibay ka Tulos
Sakaling datnang agos!
Ako'y mumunting lumot
sa iyo'y pupulupot."

Translation:
"Oh be resilient you Stake
Should the waters be coming!
I shall cower as the moss
To you I shall be clinging."
33. Verse with 14 iambic pentameter lines

A. Epic
B. Sonnet
C. Verse
D. Prose
34. Longest epic ever written

A. Invictus
B. Lam-ang
C. Mahabharata
D. Lament
MAHABHARATA RAMAYANA
• ascribed to Vyasa
• attributed to Valmiki
• consists of legendary and
• the story of Rama and his
didactic materials about the
wife Sita; it is a tale of love
struggle for supremacy
and jealousy, loss and
between two groups of
recovery, separation and
cousins, the Kauravas and
return
the Pandavas
* An exposition on dharma
(codes of conduct) of a
* it reflects the Hindu
king, of a warrior, of a man
values and forms of social
living in times of calamity,
organization, the theory of
and of a person seeking to
karma, the ideas of wifehood,
attain emancipation from
and feelings about caste,
rebirth
honor and promises
35. Stories that reflect people’s beliefs and
are handed from generation to generation

A. Prose
B. Folktales
C. Poetry
D. Ballad
36. A poem lamenting the dead

A. Sonnet
B. Ode
C. Elegy
D. Satire
Ode It is the most majestic type of lyric poetry. It
expresses enthusiasm, lofty praise of some person
or thing, deep reflection or restrained feeling.

Elegy a poem of serious reflection, typically a

lament for the dead.

Sonnet a poem of fourteen lines using any of a

number of formal rhyme schemes, in English
typically having ten syllables per line.
37. A speech by a person who reveals
his thoughts

A. Sonnet
B. Metaphor
C. Soliloquy
D. Simile
38. Author of “ How My Brother Leon
Brought Home a Wife”

A. Manuel Arguilla
B. Fernando Maramag
C. Paz Benitez
D. None of these
How My Brother Leon Brought Home A
Wife
How My Brother Leon Brought Home
A Wife is a story written by Manuel
Arguilla about a man who comes home
to his province to introduce his wife
from the city to his family.

This short story won first prize in the

Commonwealth Literary Contest in
1940.
Baldo and his older brother Leon were both
waiting for the arrival of their visitor riding
the carretela. Seeing his brother's wife, Baldo
was easily taken away by the beauty of the
woman from the city as he narrates their
journey to Nagrebcan. The idea of meeting
with Leon's parents for the first time made
Maria a bit anxious. But along their way
home, Maria discovered the peculiarities of
the life in Nagrebcan as opposed to their life
in the city where she met and fell in love with
Leon.
Characters
 Baldo - younger brother of Leon, fetched Leon
and Maria from the road to Nagrebcan
 Leon (or Noel) - older brother of Baldo who
studied in Manila where he met his wife
 Maria - the beautiful and stunning wife of
Leon from Manila
 Labang - the bull whom Baldo considers as his
“pet”
 Norman Tabios - Maria's ex-boyfriend who
happened to be a loro
 Gagambino - Leon's favorite fictional
character who gave him lots of guts to study in
Manila
 Churita - Labang's girlfriend/fiance
39. He wrote the famous letter “ To the
Women of Malolos”

A. Gregorio del Pilar

B. Andres Bonifacio
C. Jose Rizal
D. Emilio Jacinto
40. Who is the author of “The legend of
sleepy Hollow” which revolves around a
headless horseman’s tale

A. George Washington
B. Robert Surtess
C. Washington Irving
D. Shakespeare
41. Considered as one of the world’s
greatest short stories and it is Edgar
Allan Poe’s story of terror about a
hypochondriac living in morbid fear.

A. Annabel Lee
B. The fall of the house of Usher
C. Macbeth
D. The Raven
42. “I am the master of my fate, I am
the captain of my soul”,, is taken
from the poem

A. O Captain, my captain
B. Invictus
C. The Arrow and the Song
D. None of these
43. What does the name “Oedipus”
mean?

A. “Incest-monger”
B. “Swollen foot”
C. “Blinded by Fate”
D. “King of Thebes”
44. What provokes Achilles’ rage against
Agamemnon?

A. Agamemnon’s insults of Achilles’ lineage

B. Agamemnon’s defeat of Achilles in a footrace
C. Agamemnon’s repeated sending of Achilles
to the front lines, where the danger of being
killed is greatest
D. Agamemnon’s demand that Achilles hand
over Briseis
45. Based on this conversation, “’I drink to
the buried that repose around us,” says
Fortunato. “And I to your long life,”
Montresor replies,” what figure of speech
is displayed?

A. Metaphor
B. Allusion
C. Hyperbole
D. Irony
46. It is known as the morbid attraction
toward corpses.

A. Nymphomania
B. Necrophobia
C. Necrophilia
D. Psychosis
47. Hemingway sets the story Hills Like White
Elephant at a train station to highlight the fact
that:

A. the relationship between the American man and

the girl is at a crossroad.
B. the American and the girl are not meant to be.
C. the American is wealthy and the girl is
underprivileged.
D. It symbolizes something no one wants; A
burdensome or costly possession.
48. What was Gilgamesh doing that
angered Enkidu to challenge him to a
fight?

A. Collecting heavy taxes from farmers

B. Enslaving peasants for his own
amusement
C. Sleeping with newly married brides
D. Putting the elderly of the city to death
49. In drama it is known as
overweening pride or excessive
pride.

A. Stichomythia
B. Peripeteia
C. Anagnorisis
D. Hubris
50. Why did the gods create Enkidu?

A. To defeat and overthrow Gilgamesh

B. To stop Gilgamesh from finding a bride

C. To be a counterforce to Gilgamesh
D. To prevent Gilgamesh from destroying
them