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

English Literature MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions)

 Que- Which of the following texts provides the best example of defamiliarization ? 

a. Aristotle's Poetics  

b. Leo Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata  

c. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness  

d. W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk 


Answer- Leo Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata


Que- Who for the first time discriminated between imagination and fancy ? 

a. Coleridge  

b. William Wordsworth  

c. John Ruskin  

d. Schegell 


Answer- William Wordsworth


Que- Which of the following statements best explains the main objective of New Historicism ? 

a. Texts are examined to see how colonizers and the colonized interact.  

b. Texts are examined to see how the formal aspects of the text create meaning.  

c. Texts are examined to determine how they reveal social realities.  

d. Texts are examined to determine the author's intent. 


Answer- Texts are examined to determine how they reveal social realities.


Que- Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is believed to be the Preamble to Romantic Criticism. In which year was it published ? 

a. 1798 

b. 1800 

c. 1801 

d. 1802 


Answer- 1800


Que- What is double consciousness _______________? 

a. An early aspect of ethnic criticism  

b. An understanding of how double experiences create identity  

c. A concept developed by W.E.B Du Bois  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- The probable date of composition of Ars Poetica is_______________? 

a. 100 BC  

b. 12 to 8 BC  

c. 15 AD  

d. 20 AD 


Answer- 12 to 8 BC


Que- Who was the originator of the Theory of Imitation in Literature ? 

a. Longinus  

b. Aristotle  

c. Plato  

d. Horace 


Answer- Plato


Que- According to Plato, what is the moral purpose of art ? 

a. To connect human beings with a higher ideal  

b. To entertain those who enjoy it  

c. To criticize society through satire  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- To connect human beings with a higher ideal


Que- One of the potential disadvantages of this approach to literature is that it can reduce meaning to a certain time frame, rather than making it universal throughout the ages ? 

a. Formalist  

b. Historical  

c. Feminist  

d. Mimetic 


Answer- Historical


Que- Aristotle's critical work is entitled_______________? 

a. Ars Poetica  

b. Poetics  

c. De Arte Poetica  

d. Art Poetique 


Answer- Poetics


Que- Reader-response theory is focused on considering which of the following ? 

a. How readers learn to read  

b. How readers imagine visual images in a text  

c. How readers participate in creating the meaning of a text  

d. How readers regard critics 


Answer- How readers participate in creating the meaning of a text


Que- Dryden wrote An Essay of Dramatic Poesy. Is this ? 

a. An Essay  

b. A Drama  

c. A Poetical Work  

d. An Interlocution 


Answer- An Interlocution


Que- Which of the following texts is the BEST example of the argument that a work's meaning does not come entirely from the imagination of the author ? 

a. Plato's The Republic  

b. T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent"  

c. Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology  

d. Jacques Lacan's "The Mirror Stage….. 


Answer- T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent"


Que- What approach is described by the paragraph? This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that "literature" exists not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind of a reader ? 

a. Historical/Biographical Approach  

b. Reader Response Approach  

c. Formalism  

d. Mimetic Approach 


Answer- Reader Response Approach


Que- Which text argues that, as infants, human beings begin to define their identities against the identities of others ? 

a. Judith Butler's Gender Trouble  

b. W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk  

c. Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author"  

d. Jacques Lacan's "The Mirror Stage . . . " 


Answer- Jacques Lacan's "The Mirror Stage . . . "


Que- Aristotle discusses the theory of Tragedy in _______________? 

a. Art Poetique  

b. Poetics  

c. Rhetoric  

d. Ars Poetica 


Answer- Poetics


Que- In her essay "The Laugh of the Medusa," what does Hélène Cixous suggest for women ? 

a. Women should write for and about themselves in order to counter phallocentric texts.  

b. Women should write, but they should do so only within the existent male canon.  

c. Women should primarily dedicate themselves to studying women's literature from the past.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Women should write for and about themselves in order to counter phallocentric texts.


Que- Who called Aristotle "the very Alexander of criticism" ? 

a. Saintsbury  

b. Murray  

c. Atkins  

d. Tyllard 


Answer- Saintsbury


Que- How does VirginiaWoolf's essay "A Room of One's Own" contribute to feminist theory ? 

a. It suggests that the suppression of women is part of a historical climate that will naturally fade away.  

b. It suggests that gender roles are conditioned by the possession of money and power.  

c. It suggests that gender has power over class.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- It suggests that gender roles are conditioned by the possession of money and power.


Que- Who contributed the term "to see the object as in itself it really is" ? 

a. Wordsworth  

b. Coleridge  

c. Arnold  

d. Goethe 


Answer- Arnold


Que- The phrase "willing suspension of disbelief" applies to which poet/critic ? 

a. Charles Lamb  

b. Joseph Conrad  

c. Coleridge  

d. Wordsworth 


Answer- Coleridge


Que- What is hermeneutics ? 

a. A term that describes the absence of racial others in the canon  

b. A term that describes the attempt to read homosexuality into literature  

c. A term that describes the effect of autobiography on text  

d. A term that describes the interpretation of meaning 


Answer- A term that describes the interpretation of meaning


Que- What does Judith Butler mean when she suggests that gender is "performed" ? 

a. Gender does not reflect an essential truth, but rather is a role people play based on their internalization of socially constructed gender roles.  

b. Gender roles do not exist.  

c. Real gender roles are scripted by excellent writers.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Gender does not reflect an essential truth, but rather is a role people play based on their internalization of socially constructed gender roles.


Que- How are Julia Kristeva's psychoanalytic theories distinct from traditional Freudian concepts ? 

a. Kristeva rejects the idea that neuroses provide insight into the unconscious.  

b. Kristeva suggests that women are not subject to traditional fetishes.  

c. Kristeva offers a more central place for women's issues within psychological development.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Kristeva offers a more central place for women's issues within psychological development.


Que- What does Edward Said argue about the concept of the Orient ? 

a. It has little relationship to the colonization of Asian countries by the West.  

b. It illustrates the fundamental political equality of all nations.  

c. It was produced by Western scholarship.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- It was produced by Western scholarship.


Que- According to Aristotle the unravelling of the plot_____________? 

a. Should arise from the circumstances of the plot itself  

b. By supernatural machinery  

c. By narration  

d. By the choral odes 


Answer- Should arise from the circumstances of the plot itself


Que- Of all philosopher's Plato is the most poetic. Who said this______________? 

a. Philiph Sidney  

b. Shelley  

c. Aristlotle  

d. Keats 


Answer- Philiph Sidney


Que- In which book of the Republic did Plato ban poets from his ideal world ? 

a. Book 7  

b. Book 10  

c. Book 1  

d. Book 5 


Answer- Book 10


Que- In Fredric Jameson's book The Political Unconscious, what does Jameson suggest about literature ? 

a. History comprises the essential framework for the performance of literary analysis  

b. Politics and the economy are the most important factors in literary analysis  

c. Biography is essential to literary analysis  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- History comprises the essential framework for the performance of literary analysis


Que- Who established the Lyceum ? 

a. Plato  

b. Aristotle  

c. Horace  

d. Longinus 


Answer- Aristotle


Que- Regarding the observance of the three Classical Unities in a play, Dr. Johnson's view is that ? 

a. Only the Unity of Time should be observed  

b. Only the Unity of Place should be observed  

c. Only the Unity of Action should be observed  

d. All the three Unities should be observed 


Answer- Only the Unity of Action should be observed


Que- The end of writing is to instruct, the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing. Whose view is this ? 

a. Wordsworth's  

b. Coleridge's  

c. Dr. Johnson's  

d. Matthew Arnold's 


Answer- Dr. Johnson's


Que- Which of the following ideas relates to J.L. Austin's performativity theory ? 

a. Performance is the ultimate objective of all human beings.  

b. Language is used to indicate action as well as thought.  

c. Individuals perform gender actively.  

d. All of the above answers are correct 


Answer- Language is used to indicate action as well as thought.


Que- Who is the author of Ars Poetica ? 

a. Plato  

b. Aristotle  

c. Horace  

d. Longinus 


Answer- Horace


Que- Which of the following best describes the difference between literary criticism and literary theory ? 

a. Literary criticism is concerned only with the meaning of a literary work, while literary theory is concerned only with the structure of a literary work.  

b. Literary criticism draws upon research derived from sources outside literature, while literary theory draws upon sources within a text.  

c. Literary theory is concerned with the method used to interpret a work, while literary criticism is the application of literary theory.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Literary theory is concerned with the method used to interpret a work, while literary criticism is the application of literary theory.


Que- Michael Foucault was the major practitioner of this school of criticism? 

a. Formalist Criticism  

b. Deconstructionism  

c. Structuralism  

d. Mimetic Criticism 


Answer- Structuralism


Que- Who considers poetry 'a mother of lies' ? 

a. Aristotle  

b. Plato  

c. Pope  

d. Stephen Gosson 


Answer- Stephen Gosson


Que- In which essay did Arnold say that for good literature to flourish two powers are necessary – creative and the critical ? 

a. The Function of Criticism  

b. The Study of Poetry  

c. Preface to Eighteen Fifty Three poems  

d. Essay on Wordsworth 


Answer- The Function of Criticism


Que- Aristotle and Plato belong to phase of criticism ? 

a. Hellenic  

b. Hellenistic  

c. Renaissance  

d. Graeco-Roman 


Answer- Hellenic


Que- The term Electra Complex has originated from a tragedy entitled Electra. Who is the author of his tragedy ? 

a. Aeschylus  

b. Sophocles  

c. Euripides  

d. Seneca 


Answer- Sophocles


Que- In which the following works Plato discusses his Theory of Poetry ? 

a. Apology  

b. Ion  

c. The Republic  

d. Phaedrus 


Answer- The Republic


Que- This critical approach assumes that language does not refer to any external reality. It can assert several, contradictory interpretations of one text ? 

a. Deconstructionism  

b. Formalist Criticism  

c. Structuralism  

d. Mimetic Criticism 


Answer- Deconstructionism


Que- Christopher Ricks would most likely DISAGREE with which of the following claims about literary theory ? 

a. Literary theory is limited in its ability to interpret a text.  

b. Literary theory often depends on esoteric knowledge to be properly understood.  

c. Literary theory is employed mostly by academics.  

d. Literary theory is the only proper way to conceptualize literary texts. 


Answer- Literary theory is the only proper way to conceptualize literary texts.


Que- This approach provides a universalistic approach to literature and identifies a reason why certain literature may survive the test of time. It works well with works that are highly symbolic.What approach has this advantage ? 

a. Mimetic  

b. Psychological  

c. Historical/Biographical  

d. Mythological/Archetypal 


Answer- Mythological/Archetypal


Que- Coleridge's Biographia Literaria appeared in the year ?. 

a. 1817 

b. 1818 

c. 1718 

d. 1717 


Answer- 1817


Que- The Lyrical Ballads was published in____________________? 

a. 1780 

b. 1798 

c. 1815 

d. 1805 


Answer- 1798


Que- Which of the following is a theme of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's book Epistemology of the Closet ? 

a. Understanding sexuality is crucial to understanding culture.  

b. Understanding homosexuality has little effect on understanding culture.  

c. Literary study is unaffected by a lack of interest in sexuality.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Understanding sexuality is crucial to understanding culture.


Que- Preface to the Lyrical Ballads' was published in______________? 

a. 1798 

b. 1800 

c. 1802 

d. 1815 


Answer- 1800


Que- Aristotle said of chorus in Greek tragedy that_____________? 

a. It is only lyrical songs in the play  

b. It should be regarded as one of the actors  

c. It should make only reports  

d. It should only comment on the action 


Answer- It should be regarded as one of the actors


Que- This approach can turn a work into little more than a case study, neglecting to view it as a piece of art. Critics sometimes attempt to diagnose long dead authors based on their works, which is perhaps not the best evidence of their psychology. Critics tend to see sex in everything, exaggerating this aspect of literature. What approach possess this disadvantage ? 

a. Moral/Philosophical  

b. Psychological  

c. Formalism/New Criticism  

d. Historical/Biographical 


Answer- Psychological

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