Answer Key for AP English Literature and Composition Practice Exam, Section I (Latest Update) 2021

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION SECTION I Time—1 hour Directions: This section consists of selections from literary works and questions on their content, form, and style. After reading each passage or poem, choose the best answer to each question and then fill in the corresponding circle on the answer sheet. Note: Pay particular attention to the requirements of questions that contain the words NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT. Questions 1-9. Read the following poem carefully before you choose your answers. (A) A meditation on a disappointing outcome This poem, set in the rural South, was first published during the Harlem Renaissance. (B) A recollection of a remarkable occurrence (C) A lament for a vanished way of life (D) An analysis of a momentous decision November Cotton Flower (E) An invitation to celebrate a hard-fought victory Boll-weevil’s* coming, and the winter’s cold, Made cotton-stalks look rusty, seasons old, 2. The primary purpose of lines 1-8 is to 10 Line 5 And cotton, scarce as any southern snow, Was vanishing; the branch, so pinched and slow, Failed in its function as the autumn rake; Drouth fighting soil had caused the soil to take All water from the streams; dead birds were found In wells a hundred feet below the ground— Such was the season when the flower bloomed. Old folks were startled, and it soon assumed (A) re-create a contentious situation (B) develop a comparison between two time periods (C) foreshadow the poem’s implied conclusion (D) provide a context for the poem’s central image (E) undermine the credibility of the speaker Significance. Superstition saw Something it had never seen before: Brown eyes that loved without a trace of fear, (A) Apostrophe Beauty so sudden for that time of year. (B) Paradox (C) Anaphora “November Cotton Flower,” from CANE by Jean Toomer. Copyright 1923 by Boni & Liveright, renewed 1951 by Jean Toomer. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. (D) Alliteration (E) Understatement Unauthorized copying or reuse of any part of this page is illegal. GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. -4- 4. Which best describes the technique used in lines 4-8 (“the branch . . . ground”) ? 5. In line 5, “Failed in its function as” is best understood to mean 6. The statement in line 9 serves to emphasize that the blooming of the flower was 8. If the context of the poem is interpreted broadly, the cotton flower most likely symbolizes 9. The poem employs all of the following EXCEPT (A) Cases of deprivation are traced back to a single incident. (B) Details of agricultural setbacks provide historical context. (C) Accounts of successive catastrophes establish the poem’s central meaning. (D) Descriptions of hardships among humans mirror those in the animal world. (E) Examples of dearth in nature accumulate to provide emphasis. (A) became obsolete as (B) had lost its appeal as (C) would never again be used as (D) was useless as (E) was misused as (A) unnecessary (B) fleeting (C) incongruous (D) misunderstood (E) anticipated 7. For the “Old folks” (line 10), the blooming of the flower was (A) a festive and celebratory event (B) a surprising and disheartening symbol (C) an unusual and controversial discovery (D) an unwelcome and alarming premonition (E) an unexpected and profound revelation (A) the possibility of miraculous change (B) the superficiality of beautiful objects (C) a vision of extravagant opulence (D) attainment of personal ambitions (E) commitment to a false ideal (A) rhyming couplets (B) visual imagery (C) auditory imagery (D) enjambment (E) variable rhythm