English Literature MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) - Schoolingaxis.com

English Literature MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions)

 Que- What impulse probably accounts for the rise of distinguished translations of works, such as Homer's lliad and Odyssey, into English during the sixteenth century ? 

a. human reverence for the classics  

b. the belief that the English were direct descendants of the ancient Greeks  

c. pride for the vernacular language  

d. a and c only 


Answer- a and c only


Que- Which historical figure initiated a series of religious persecutions condemning Protestants as heretics and burning them at the stake in the 1550s ? 

a. Archbishop Cranmer  

b. Catherine of Aragon  

c. Elizabeth I  

d. Mary Tudor 


Answer- Mary Tudor


Que- In the Defense of Poesy, what did Sidney attribute to poetry ? 

a. a magical power whereby poetry plays tricks on the reader  

b. a divine power whereby poetry transmits a message from God to the reader  

c. a moral power whereby poetry encourages the reader to emulate virtuous models  

d. a defensive power whereby poetry and its figurative expressions allow the poet to avoid censorship 


Answer- a moral power whereby poetry encourages the reader to emulate virtuous models


Que- Who began to ignite the embers of dissent against the Catholic church in November 1517 in a movement that came to be known as the Reformation ? 

a. Anne Boleyn  

b. Martin Luther  

c. Pope Leo X  

d. Ulrich Zwingli 


Answer- Martin Luther


Que- Who introduced the art of printing into England ? 

a. Elizabeth Eisenstein  

b. Johannes Gutenberg  

c. Henry VIII  

d. William Caxton 


Answer- William Caxton


Que- Which of the following is true about public theaters in Elizabethan England ? 

a. They relied on admission charges, an innovation of the period.  

b. The early versions were oval in shape.  

c. They were located outside the city limits of London.  

d. all of the above 


Answer- all of the above


Que- Expressed in Elizabethan poetry as well as court rituals and events, a cult of_________formed around Elizabeth and dictated the nature of relations between herself and her court ? 

a. ignominy  

b. unwarranted abuse  

c. odium  

d. love 


Answer- love


Que- Which royal dynasty was established in the resolution of the so-called War of the Roses and continued through the reign of Elizabeth I ? 

a. Tudor  

b. Windsor  

c. York  

d. Lancaster 


Answer- Tudor


Que- What was the only acknowledged religion in England during the early sixteenth century ? 

a. Atheism  

b. Protestantism  

c. Catholicism  

d. Ancestor-worship 


Answer- Catholicism


Que- Which designates the theory that the reigning monarch possesses absolute authority as God's deputy ? 

a. manifest destiny  

b. extreme unction  

c. royal absolutism  

d. constitutional monarchism 


Answer- royal absolutism


Que- Who owned the rights to a theatrical script ? 

a. the patron of the acting company, eg, the Lord Chamberlain  

b. the bishop of London  

c. the printer  

d. the acting company 


Answer- the acting company


Que- Which of the following sixteenth-century poets was not a courtier ? 

a. George Puttenham  

b. Philip Sidney  

c. Walter Ralegh  

d. Thomas Wyatt 


Answer- George Puttenham


Que- Who succeeded Elizabeth I on the throne of England ? 

a. Elizabeth II  

b. Henry IX  

c. James I  

d. Charles I 


Answer- James I


Que- Which of the following refers to the small area of Ireland, extending north from Dublin, over which the English government could claim effective control ? 

a. Ulster  

b. the Protectorate  

c. the Pale  

d. West Britain 


Answer- the Pale


Que- Which was not an objection raised against the public theaters in the Elizabethan period ? 

a. They caused excessive noise and traffic.  

b. They charged too much.  

c. They excited illicit sexual desires.  

d. They drew young people away from work. 


Answer- They charged too much.


Que- Who authored Il Cortigiano (The Courtier), a book that was highly influential in the English court, providing subtle guidance on self-display ? 

a. Cavalcanti  

b. Castiglione  

c. Pirandello  

d. Boccaccio 


Answer- Castiglione


Que- Between 1520 and 1550, the population of London_______________? 

a. remained constant.  

b. fell from 375,00 to barely 100,000.  

c. doubled from 60,000 to 120,000.  

d. doubled from 600,000 to 1,200,000 


Answer- doubled from 60,000 to 120,000.


Que- Which of the following sixteenth-century works of English literature was translated into the English language after its first publication in Latin ? 

a. Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus  

b. William Shakespeare's King Lear  

c. Thomas More's The History of King Richard III  

d. Thomas More's Utopia 


Answer- Thomas More's Utopia


Que- Which of the following describes the chief system by which writers received financial rewards for their literary production ? 

a. charity  

b. patronage  

c. censorship  

d. subscription 


Answer- patronage


Que- The churchyard of St. Paul's Cathedral was well-known for its____________? 

a. ruinous condition.  

b. performing bears.  

c. graffiti.  

d. bookshops. 


Answer- bookshops.


Que- To what subgenre did the Senecan influence give rise, as evidenced in the first English tragedy Gorboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex ? 

a. villain tragedy  

b. poetic tragedy  

c. heroic tragedy  

d. revenge tragedy 


Answer- revenge tragedy


Que- Which of the following shifts began in the reign of Henry VII and continued under his Tudor successors ? 

a. the growing authority of the Pope over domestic English affairs  

b. the expansion of England's colonial possessions  

c. the rise in the power and confidence of the aristocracy  

d. the countering of feudal power structures by a stronger central authority 


Answer- the countering of feudal power structures by a stronger central authority


Que- What is blank verse ? 

a. iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets  

b. the verse form of the Shakespearean sonnet  

c. free verse, without rhyme or regular meter  

d. unrhymed iambic pentameter 


Answer- unrhymed iambic pentameter


Que- Which of the following statements is not an accurate reflection of education during the English Renaissance ? 

a. It was aimed primarily at sons of the nobility and gentry.  

b. Its curriculum emphasized ancient Greek, the language of diplomacy, professions, and higher learning.  

c. It was conducted by tutors in wealthy families or in grammar schools.  

d. It was ordered according to the medieval trivium and quadrivium 


Answer- Its curriculum emphasized ancient Greek, the language of diplomacy, professions, and higher learning.


Que- From which of the following Italian texts might Tudor courtiers have learned the art of intrigue and the keys to gaining and keeping power ? 

a. Castiglione's \The Courtier\  

b. Dante's \Divine Comedy\  

c. Boccaccio's \Decameron\  

d. Machiavelli's \The Prince\ 


Answer- Machiavelli's \The Prince\


Que- To what does the phrase \the stigma of print\refer ? 

a. lead poisoning contracted from handling printer's ink  

b. the brutal punishment for printing without a license  

c. the pre-Reformation ban on printing the Bible in English  

d. the perception among court poets that printed verses were less exclusive 


Answer- the perception among court poets that printed verses were less exclusive


Que- Which of the following might be addressed/represented by pastoral poetry ? 

a. shepherd and shepherdesses who fall in love and engage in singing contests  

b. heroic stories in epic form  

c. a celebration of the humility, contentment, and simplicity of living in the country  

d. A and C only 


Answer- A and C only


Que- Which of the following statements accurately reflects the status of England, its people, and its language in the early sixteenth century ? 

a. English travelers were not obliged to learn French, Italian, or Spanish during their explorations of the Continent.  

b. English was fast supplanting Latin as the second language of most European intellectuals.  

c. English travelers often returned from the Continent with foreign fashions, much to the delight of moralists.  

d. Intending his Utopia for an international intellectual community, Thomas More wrote in Latin, since English had no prestige outside of England. 


Answer- Intending his Utopia for an international intellectual community, Thomas More wrote in Latin, since English had no prestige outside of England.


Que- Short plays called ____________ staged dialogues on religious, moral, and political themes were performed by playing companies before the construction of public theaters? 

a. interludes  

b. spectacles  

c. meditations  

d. mysteries 


Answer- interludes


Que- Christian writers like the Beowulf poet looked back on their pagan ancestors with____________? 

a. nostalgia and ill-concealed envy.  

b. bewilderment and visceral loathing.  

c. admiration and elegiac sympathy.  

d. bigotry and shallow triumphalism. 


Answer- admiration and elegiac sympathy.


Que- what was the duration of hundred year's war ? 

a. 1300 to 1350  

b. 1337 to 1453  

c. 1302 to 1343  

d. none of the above 


Answer- 1337 to 1453


Que- Why did the rebels of 1381 target the church, beheading the archbishop of Canterbury ? 

a. Their leaders were Lollards, advocating radical religious reform.  

b. The common people were still essentially pagan.  

c. They believed that writing, a skill largely confined to the clergy, was a form of black magic  

d. The church was among the greatest of oppressive landowners. 


Answer- The church was among the greatest of oppressive landowners.


Que- Who was the first English Christian king ? 

a. Alfred  

b. Richard III  

c. Richard II  

d. Ethelbert 


Answer- Ethelbert


Que- Which of the following authors is considered a devotee to chivalry, as it is personified in Sir Lancelot ? 

a. Julian of Norwich  

b. Margery Kempe  

c. William Langland  

d. Sir Thomas Malory 


Answer- Sir Thomas Malory


Que- Who would be called the English Homer and father of English poetry ? 

a. Bede  

b. Sir Thomas Malory  

c. Geoffrey Chaucer  

d. Caedmon 


Answer- Geoffrey Chaucer


Que- Only a small proportion of medieval books survive, large numbers having been destroyed in______________? 

a. the Anglo-Saxon Conquest beginning in the 1450s.  

b. the Norman Conquest of 1066.  

c. the Peasant Uprising of 1381.  

d. the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. 


Answer- the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.


Que- Which literary form, developed in the fifteenth century, personified vices and virtues ? 

a. the short story  

b. the heroic epic  

c. the morality play  

d. the romance 


Answer- the morality play


Que- which of these is not certain about Chaucer ? 

a. his birth date  

b. his death year  

c. his father's name  

d. none of the above 


Answer- his birth date


Que- what was chaucer's profession ? 

a. a poet  

b. a merchant  

c. a civil servant  

d. none of the above 


Answer- a civil servant


Que- Ancrene Riwle is a manual of instruction for________________? 

a. courtiers entering the service of Richard II  

b. translators of French romances  

c. women who have chosen to live as religious recluses  

d. knights preparing for their first tournament 


Answer- women who have chosen to live as religious recluses


Que- In addition to Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland, the "flowering"of Middle English literature is evident in the works of which of the following writers ? 

a. Geoffrey of Monmouth  

b. the Gawain poet  

c. the Beowulf poet  

d. Chrétien de Troyes 


Answer- the Gawain poet


Que- Chaucer buried in a corner of Westminster, which came to know as______________? 

a. Chaucer's corner  

b. poet's corner  

c. legend's corner  

d. none of the above 


Answer- poet's corner


Que- chaucer was fined in 1367 or 1366 for_______________________? 

a. beating a friar in a London street  

b. for writing poetry against the church  

c. for crossing the border of Great Britain  

d. none of the above 


Answer- beating a friar in a London street


Que- one of Chaucer's daughter was___________? 

a. a musician  

b. an astronomer  

c. a nun  

d. none of the above 


Answer- a nun


Que- what was the occupation of Chaucer's father ? 

a. leather merchant  

b. civil servant  

c. a vintner  

d. none of the above 


Answer- a vintner


Que- which of these kings was not served by Chaucer ? 

a. Edward III  

b. Henry II  

c. Richard II  

d. none of the above 


Answer- Henry II


Que- Chaucer was made in-charge of many palaces, which of these was not in his charge ? 

a. Westminster Palace  

b. Tower of London  

c. St. George's chapel at Windsor  

d. Buckingham Palace 


Answer- Buckingham Palace


Que- Which of the following best describes litote, a favorite rhetorical device in Old English poetry ? 

a. embellishment at the service of Christian doctrine  

b. repetition of parallel syntactic structures  

c. ironic understatement  

d. stress on every third diphthong 


Answer- ironic understatement


Que- What is the climax of Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain ? 

a. the reign of King Arthur  

b. the coronation of Henry II  

c. King John's seal of the Magna Carta  

d. the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine 


Answer- the reign of King Arthur


Que- Chaucer acted as a controller of custom during_______________? 

a. 1374 to 1385  

b. 1350 to 1360  

c. 1360 to 1400  

d. none of the above 


Answer- 1374 to 1385

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