A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 36

Short notes on History of English Literature

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers

26 multiple choice questions (MCQs) 

1. Keats was a romantic poet who believed in the importance of ___________.

(a) sight

(b) taste

(c) touch

(d) smell

(e) all of the above

2. Keats has been called ‘a mystic through the medium of the senses’ because ___________.

(a) he believed that the senses were the gateway to a higher reality

(b) he was interested in the physical world

(c) he was a poet of nature

(d) all of the above

3. Shelley’s weaknesses as a writer include ___________.

(a) rhetorical abstraction

(b) intellectual arrogance

(c) movements of intense self-pity

(d) all of the above

4. In the best of Shelley’s poetry, there is ___________.

(a) splendour of movement

(b) realization of visionary intensity

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

5. Shelley was inspired by love that is not limited to mankind only. This is evident in his poem ___________.

(a) "Ode to a Nightingale"

(b) "The Masque of Anarchy"

(c) "Prometheus Unbound"

(d) "To a Skylark"

6. Mathew Arnold describes Shelley as ___________.

(a) "a beautiful and ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain"

(b) "a revolutionary poet"

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

7. Hamlet is a play that deals with ___________.

(a) vengeance

(b) suicide

(c) love

(d) all of the above

8. Coleridge says of Hamlet that ___________.

(a) he sees a great, an almost enormous intellectual activity and a proportionate aversion to real action

(b) he is a tragic hero

(c) he is a complex and fascinating character

(d) all of the above

9. Hemingway is preoccupied with the ___________.

(a) human predicament

(b) moral code

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

10. Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea is a story about ___________.

(a) a fisherman's struggle with a giant marlin

(b) the human spirit's triumph over adversity

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

11. It is said of Jane Austen that she involves the ___________ of her readers.

(a) critical intelligence

(b) aesthetic delight

(c) moral conviction

(d) all of the above

12. Jane Austen's novels are the work of a ___________.

(a) miniaturist

(b) realist

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

13. Jane Austen's view of life is ___________.

(a) the view of the eighteenth century civilization

(b) the moral realistic view

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

14. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has been described as ___________.

(a) a fairy tale

(b) a moralistic tale

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

15. W.B. Yeats was a ___________ poet.

(a) Romantic

(b) Symbolist

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

16. W. B. Yeats works deal intensely with ___________.

(a) three basic urges

(b) the human condition

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

17.Yeats' symbols, like his mask, by their triple reference to self, world, and spirit achieve ___________.

(a) a unity of being

(b) a unity of bring impossible in life

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

18. Stock says of Yeats' The Second Coming that ___________.

(a) it is a poem about the end of the world

(b) it is a poem about the beginning of a new age

(c) it is a poem about the cyclical nature of history

(d) none of the above

19. Browning's Dramatic monologue is a poem that ___________.

(a) reveals the thoughts and feelings of a character

(b) is spoken by a character

(c) both (a) and (b)

(d) none of the above

20. Robert Browning's interest in psychological analysis of characters from different countries is evident in his poem ___________.

(a) "My Last Duchess"

(b) "Andrea del Sarto"

(c) "The Ring and the Book"

(d) "Fra Lippo Lippi"

21. Browning had a “robust optimism” unlike the other Victorian poets who were worriers and doubters. This is evident in his poem ___________.

(a) "Pippa Passes"

(b) "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"

(c) "The Ring and the Book"

(d) "Fra Lippo Lippi"

22. Dickens has his own sentimental way of solving social problems. This is evident in his novel ___________.

(a) Oliver Twist

(b) David Copperfield

(c) A Tale of Two Cities

(d) Great Expectations

23. Which of the following is NOT a weakness of Shelley as a writer?

(a) rhetorical abstraction

(b) intellectual arrogance

(c) movements of intense self-pity

(d) lack of originality

24. Which of the following is NOT a theme of Hamlet?

(a) revenge

(b) suicide

(c) love

(d) the nature of good and evil

25. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Jane Austen's novels?

(a) they are set in the 18th century

(b) they are concerned with the moral development of their characters

(c) they are full of witty dialogue

(d) they are concerned with social issues

26. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of W.B. Yeats' poetry?

(a) it is full of symbols

(b) it is concerned with the human condition

(c) it is influenced by Celtic mythology

(d) it is written in a clear and straightforward style

 

The answers to the multiple choice questions:

1. (e) all of the above
2. (d) all of the above
3. (d) all of the above
4. (c) both (a) and (b)
5. (c) Prometheus Unbound
6. (b) a revolutionary poet
7. (d) all of the above
8. (d) all of the above
9. (b) moral code
10. (c) both (a) and (b)
11. (d) all of the above
12. (a) miniaturist
13. (b) the moral realistic view
14. (a) a fairy tale
15. (b) Symbolist
16. (c) both (a) and (b)
17. (a) a unity of being
18. (c) it is a poem about the cyclical nature of history
19. (c) both (a) and (b)
20. (c) The Ring and the Book
21. (a) Pippa Passes
22. (a) Oliver Twist
23. (d) lack of originality
24. (d) the nature of good and evil
25. (d) they are concerned with social issues
26. (d) it is written in a clear and straightforward style

 Ardhendu De

Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert, 

      2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature