Texas Pre-Admission Content Test Practice Tests and PDFs

This passage describes four major patterns of infant attachment.

The poem's author, Emily Dickinson, likely chose these words because they not only contrast with one another but also typify characteristics of domesticated horses, thus carrying out her extended metaphor of a horse as a train. In this context, the words are not contradictory, though they normally would be. Horses have great physical power, which is suggested by "omnipotent", but domesticated horses are also typically obedient and gentle, which is suggested by the word "docile." Therefore, choice D is correct. These words are contrasting, so they are not synonyms, which makes choice A incorrect. They are not nonsensical, so choice B is incorrect. While they describe a mechanical object, they are not mechanical words in any sense and do not suggest anything mechanical, so choice C is incorrect.

This poem was written circa 1862, which was during the American Civil War (1861-1865), so choice D is correct. By discerning the subject of the poem, a train, it can be reasoned that this poem was written near or during the period that American train usage was growing and developing, which includes the years of the American Civil War. World War I (A), which lasted from 1914-1918, occurred after travel by train was well established. Additionally, the poet who wrote this poem, Emily Dickinson, died long before World War I began. Both the French Revolution (B), which lasted from 1789-1799, and the War of 1812 (C), which lasted from 1812-1815, occurred before American railroads were developed.

While the topic of this poem is death, the tone is lighthearted, and the poem finds humor in death with a gentle kind of irony, so choice C is correct. The diction, word choice, rhythms, and conclusion do not convey gravity or darkness (A). The descriptive details of the journey to eternity, slow yet seemingly over within a day in retrospect, do not convey detachment alienation, or numbness (B). Rather, the persona in the poem seems to go on a pleasant journey with death and quietly observes Death's "kindly" character and "Civility"—examples of the gentle irony that the poet uses here. The deliberate, placid narrative has no frantic, agitated, frenzied, or fearful (D) qualities.

Poet Emily Dickinson reflects the structure of the object described (i.e., a train) in the syntax of the poem, so choice C is correct. The first two words "I like" are the only subject and simple predicate of the poem's single, 17-line sentence. Grammatically, the object of "like" is "to see it lap," and the actions subsequently described are in parallel with "lap": "lick," "stop," "step," "peer," "pare," "crawl," "chase," "neigh," and "stop." This syntax mirrors the structure of a train in that the subject and simple predicate are like a locomotive, and each subsequent action is like a different railcar that follows along. A train's structure is not specifically mirrored in the poem' s vocabulary (A). The poem's rhythms (B) are typical of Dickinson's work, as she very often wrote in iambic lines of alternating tetrameter and trimeter. The tone (D) seems to be a childlike kind of enthusiasm that is used deliberately due to the subject being a train, but this does not reflect the structure of a train.

This poem was written by Emily Dickinson around 1862, during the Industrial Revolution, when the railroad had recently been invented. The poem describes a train, so choice B is correct. The poet describes this "iron horse" by appropriately using the extended metaphor of a horse, but the poem does not describe an actual horse, so choice A is incorrect. While the speaker does describe the subject as something "omnipotent" that can "lick the Valleys up," which could describe a mythical monster, the speaker also says the subject "stops to feed itself at tanks" and is "docile." These descriptions of disciplined behavior, as well as the poem's tone, do not give evidence that the subject is a monster, so choice C is incorrect. Since it is possible to determine that the poem describes a train, and the poem consistently uses devices to suggest that the subject is a train, choice D is also incorrect.

The author of this poem, Emily Dickinson, uses personification by attributing human qualities to nonhuman entities. She describes how Death "kindly stopped for me" and "knew no haste." She also uses human pronouns, such as "He" and "We," and human actions, such as "drove," "knew," and "paused." The poem's speaker even sets aside their "labor and [their] leisure too" to be polite to death. Analogy (A) is a comparison of different things that have some common attribute, like saying that the human heart is like a pump. The poem does analogize (for example, by describing a house that is really a grave), but the poem as a whole describes death using personification. Hyperbole (B) is extreme exaggeration, which there is no use of here. Alliteration (C) is repetition of sounds in adjacent or close words. Although the poem contains some uses of alliteration, such as "Gazing Grain" and "Setting Sun," the overall description of death uses personification.

Because "Boanerges" is a reference to a something outside the poem and it would likely have a different, deeper, or clearer meaning for one who is familiar with its original use and meaning, its use here is an example of allusion, so choice A is the correct answer. Allegory is a device where a story is used to represent something from real life, usually in order to make a point about morality. For example, The Pilgrim's Progress includes many characters, places, and events that are fictitious, but together represent the opportunities for moral and immoral behavior that a real person is likely to face over the course of life. Though "Boanerges" has its origins in a religious text, its use here is not allegorical, so choice B is incorrect. Soliloquy is the use of lengthy monologue where a speaker reflects aloud regardless of hearers. This is not how "Boanerges" is used here, so choice C is incorrect. Symbolism is a device where a story element, such as a person, object, or action, represents a concept. For example, the raven in Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven" is considered to symbolize death, grief, or loss. The use of "Boanerges" here is not symbolic, so choice D is incorrect.

The fifth stanza, about "'a House that seemed/A Swelling ofthe Ground," is an oblique description of a grave. Its cornice is "in the Ground" and the roof is "scarcely visible," indicating that this "House" is underground. This is not a literal description of a home (A) or a church (C). A school (D) with children at recess is described as one of the aspects of life they pass in their journey, in the third stanza. The fifth stanza's description of a grave is in keeping with the whole poem's light, gentle, indirect, and accepting treatment of death.

The poet, Emily Dickinson, habitually used dashes as a kind of musical mechanism to establish the prosody of her poems and habitually capitalized the initials of certain words to lend them additional emphasis. Therefore, choice C is correct. She did not use dashes simply as punctuation or capitalization to show honor, so choice A is incorrect. Though dashes certainly separated ideas, this was not the reason Dickinson used them so much, as explained above: likewise, capitalization was not used only for names. Therefore, choice B is incorrect. Dashes allowed her to control to her prosody, not necessarily provide continuity. Furthermore, capitals were not used for every noun, even in this poem, and in other works they are used for other parts of speech, so choice D is incorrect. Topic: 2 Paragraph (2) Refer to the following for questions 7—9: Because I could not stop for Death — He kindly stopped for me — The Carriage held but just Ourselves — And Immortality. We slowly drove — He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility — We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess — in the Ring — We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain — We passed the Setting Sun — Or rather — He passed Us — The Dews drew quivering and chill — For only Gossamer, my Gown — My Tippet — only Tulle — We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground — The Roof was scarcely visible — The Cornice — in the Ground — Since then — 'tis Centuries — and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity —