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

English Literature MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions)

 Que- What event resulted from the premature death of Henry V ? 

a. the Battle of Agincourt  

b. the Battle of Hastings  

c. the Norman Conquest  

d. the War of the Roses 


Answer- the War of the Roses


Que- Detractors argue that such an approach can be too "judgmental." Some believe literature should be judged primarily (if not solely) on its artistic merits. What approach possess this disadvantage ? 

a. Psychological  

b. Formalism/New Criticism  

c. Moral/Philosophical  

d. Historical/Biographical 


Answer- Moral/Philosophical


Que- Modern literary theory began with the work of which theorist ? 

a. Ferdinand de Saussure  

b. Viktor Shklovsky  

c. Roland Barthes  

d. Michel Foucault 


Answer- Ferdinand de Saussure


Que- One archetype in literature is the scapegoat. Which of these literary characters serves that purpose ? 

a. Billy Budd  

b. Hamlet  

c. Captain Ahab  

d. Ophelia 


Answer- Billy Budd


Que- How does New Historicism differ from traditional historicism ? 

a. New Historicism rejects the idea that history is neutral.  

b. New Historicism does not make strict delineations between literary and non-literary texts.  

c. New Historicism takes a particular interest in marginalized peoples.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- Plato used the word mimesis in relation to literature with the meaning ? 

a. Copying  

b. Criticism of life  

c. Representation  

d. Interpretation 


Answer- Representation


Que- What is the main function of postcolonial criticism ? 

a. To represent the relationship between colonizers and the colonized  

b. To draw attention to the positive effects of colonization on literature  

c. To explain why there are few examples of successful non-Western literature  

d. To show the ways in which most Western literature is superior 


Answer- To represent the relationship between colonizers and the colonized


Que- What approach is described by the paragraph? Users of this approach believe that all information essential to the interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself; there is no need to bring in outside information about the history, politics, or society of the time, or about the author's life ? 

a. Historical/Biographical Approach  

b. Moral/ Philosophical Approach  

c. Formalism  

d. Psychological Approach 


Answer- Formalism


Que- Who proposed that poets should be banished from the ideal Republic ? 

a. Plato  

b. Aristotle  

c. Sir Philip Sidney  

d. Sir Thomas More 


Answer- Plato


Que- What does gynocriticism recommend as an approach to literature ? 

a. Examining only female-authored literature more critically  

b. Considering women's literature outside of its historical context  

c. Becoming more familiar with the history of women and women's writing  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Becoming more familiar with the history of women and women's writing


Que- Horace was a_____________? 

a. Greek writer  

b. Roman Writer  

c. Italian writer  

d. English writer 


Answer- Roman Writer


Que- A critic examining Pope's "An Essay on Man" asks herself: How well does this poem accord with the real world? Is it accurate? Is it moral? She is most likely a critic? 

a. Feminist  

b. Reader Response  

c. Formalist  

d. Mimetic 


Answer- Mimetic


Que- The statements below are steps on "How to Read and Understand an Expository Essay". Which comes in as an initial thing to do before writing an expository essay ? 

a. Identify the Mode of Development  

b. Analysis of the Author  

c. Subsequent Readings/Reviews  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Analysis of the Author


Que- This literary critic warned: "We must remember that the greater part of our current reading matter is written for us by people who have no real belief in a supernatural order . . . And the greater part . . . is coming to be written by people who not only have no such belief, but are even ignorant of the fact that there are still people in the world so 'backward' or so 'eccentric' as to continue to believe." ? 

a. C.S. Lewis  

b. T.S. Eliot  

c. G.K. Chesterton  

d. Matthew Arnold 


Answer- T.S. Eliot


Que- New trends in literary theory tend to do which of the following ? 

a. Reject all previous modes of literary theory  

b. Focus on a return to traditional critical methods  

c. Make use of different literary theories in order to develop new theories  

d. Work only with ideas developed by post- Marxist theorists 


Answer- Make use of different literary theories in order to develop new theories


Que- In Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy there are four interlocuters representing four different ideologies. Which of them expresses Dryden's own views ? 

a. Lisideius  

b. Eugenius  

c. Neander  

d. Crites 


Answer- Neander


Que- What do many contemporary theorists find problematic about the literary canon ? 

a. It includes too few works by non- European writers.  

b. It includes too few works by non-white writers.  

c. It includes too few works by women.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- How does literary theory resemble the practice of philosophy as it was developed by Plato and Aristotle ? 

a. Literary theory engages with theoretical rather than real-world issues.  

b. Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems of literary interpretation.  

c. Literary theory relies totally on speculation rather than history.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems of literary interpretation.


Que- What did Sigmund Freud believe about the unconscious? 

a. a. It contains secret instincts and desires that are repressed.  

b. It is the only significant aspect of the human psyche.  

c. It can never be accessed.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- a. It contains secret instincts and desires that are repressed.


Que- What approach is described by the paragraph? Those who apply this approach believe it is necessary to know about the author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his times in order to truly understand his works ? 

a. Historical/Biographical Approach  

b. Moral/ Philosophical Approach  

c. Formalism  

d. Psychological Approach 


Answer- Historical/Biographical Approach


Que- In her essay "The Poem as Event," Louise M. Rosenblatt sees the reader as performing what function ? 

a. The reader participates in a transaction with the text.  

b. The reader is acted upon by the text.  

c. The reader acts upon the text.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- Which of the following texts is considered the first example of postcolonial criticism ? 

a. Harold Bloom's "An Elegy for the Canon"  

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

c. Cleanth Brooks's "Keats's Sylvan Historian"  

d. Edward Said's Orientalism 


Answer- Edward Said's Orientalism


Que- In his essay "What Is an Author?" what position(s) on authorship does Michel Foucault take ? 

a. The idea of the author came into being at a certain point in history.  

b. The names of authors serve a classificatory function.  

c. The author may not always exist.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- Among the following which is not a work by Aristotle ? 

a. Ethics  

b. Metaphysics  

c. Rhetoric  

d. Ars Poetica 


Answer- Ars Poetica


Que- In a Freudian approach to literature, concave images are usually seen as____________? 

a. Female symbols  

b. Phallic symbols  

c. Male symbols  

d. Evidence of an Oedipus complex 


Answer- Female symbols


Que- Which literary theorist argues that "there is nothing outside the text" ? 

a. T.S. Eliot  

b. Jacques Lacan  

c. Jacques Derrida  

d. Stanley Fish 


Answer- Jacques Derrida


Que- This feminist critic proposed that all female characters in literature are in at least one of the following stages of development: the feminine, feminist, or female stage ? 

a. Virginia Woolf  

b. Elaine Showalter  

c. Mary Wolstencraft  

d. Ellen Mores 


Answer- Elaine Showalter


Que- Which of the following writers might be considered one of the early founders of firstwave feminism ? 

a. Hélène Cixous  

b. Judith Butler  

c. Lucy Irigaray  

d. Mary Wollstonecraft 


Answer- Mary Wollstonecraft


Que- Poetic Diction was taken to be the standard language for poetry in______________? 

a. The Elizabethan Age  

b. The Neo-Classical Age  

c. The Romantic Age  

d. The Victorian Age 


Answer- The Neo-Classical Age


Que- With which theorist is phenomenology associated ? 

a. Edmund Husserl  

b. Wolfgang Iser  

c. Jean-Paul Sartre  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- What does Sidney say about the observance of the three Dramatic Unities in drama ? 

a. They must be observed  

b. It is not necessary to observe them  

c. He favours the observance of the Unity of Action only  

d. Their observance depends upon the nature of the theme of the play 


Answer- They must be observed


Que- What is phenomenology ? 

a. The examination of structures informing our conscious experience  

b. The examination of desires informing our consciousness  

c. The examination of our unconscious experience  

d. The examination of intricate structures within our unconscious 


Answer- The examination of structures informing our conscious experience


Que- Who said "theatre is not a hospital" ? 

a. F.L. Lucas  

b. J K Atkins  

c. Derrida  

d. Hillis Miller 


Answer- F.L. Lucas


Que- What is New Historicism ? 

a. A theory that sees history as a form of writing and discourse  

b. A theory that abandons the idea of history as an imitation of events  

c. A theory that regards history as a series of narratives  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- All of the above answers are correct.


Que- In general, what is Judith Butler's concept of gender ? 

a. Women's gender is artificial, while men's gender is not.  

b. While gender is not real, the stereotypes that accompany it are true.  

c. Gender is largely a cultural construct.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- Gender is largely a cultural construct.


Que- Arnold's views on poetry and criticism are discussed in ? 

a. Preface to the Poems  

b. On translating Homer  

c. Scholar Gypsy  

d. Culture and Anarchy 


Answer- Culture and Anarchy


Que- Which of the following theorists is associated with formalism ? 

a. Viktor Shklovsky  

b. Cleanth Brooks  

c. Judith Butler  

d. Mikhail Bakhtin 


Answer- Viktor Shklovsky


Que- This poet might be described as a moral or philosophical critic for arguing that works must have "high seriousness." ? 

a. T.S. Eliot  

b. Matthew Arnold  

c. Elizabeth Browning  

d. Virginia Woolf 


Answer- Matthew Arnold


Que- In Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida argues what about literature ? 

a. No fixed, stable meaning is possible.  

b. Language must be studied in conjunction with history in order to create meaning.  

c. Literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.  

d. All of the above answers are correct. 


Answer- No fixed, stable meaning is possible.


Que- In which chapter of Biographia Literaria Coleridge criticize the theory of language of Wordsworth ? 

a. 16 

b. 17 

c. 14 

d. 15 


Answer- 14


Que- What is the original meaning of the term Hamartia ? 

a. To miss the mark  

b. Sin  

c. Tragic flaw  

d. Flaws 


Answer- To miss the mark


Que- The term 'collective unconscious' is coined by_____________? 

a. Carl Jung  

b. Sigmund Freud  

c. Ernest Jones  

d. Erik Erikson 


Answer- Carl Jung


Que- Who originated the term "objective correlative," which is often used in formalist criticism ? 

a. C.S. Lewis  

b. Virginia Woolf  

c. Matthew Arnold  

d. T.S. Eliot 


Answer- T.S. Eliot


Que- Who accused Aristotle of social snobbishness and arrogance ? 

a. Willy Loman  

b. Arthur Miller  

c. Henry James  

d. David 


Answer- Arthur Miller


Que- With which feminist theorist is gynocriticism most closely associated ? 

a. Elaine Showalter  

b. Julia Kristeva  

c. Lucy Irigaray  

d. Louise M. Rosenblatt 


Answer- Elaine Showalter


Que- How did the New Critics view literature ? 

a. As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical context  

b. As an aesthetic object that is influenced by historical context  

c. As a historical object that is also aesthetic  

d. As a historical object that is not necessarily aesthetic 


Answer- As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical context


Que- This literary critic coined the term "fancy." ? 

a. Samuel Taylor Coleridge  

b. Virginia Woolf  

c. Matthew Arnold  

d. Carl Jung 


Answer- Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Que- Who is the author of Symposium ? 

a. Aristotle  

b. Dante  

c. Longinus  

d. Plato 


Answer- Plato


Que- What does Ben Jonson mean by a 'Humorous Character' ? 

a. A character who is always cheerful and gay  

b. A character who is by nature melancholy  

c. A character whose temper is determined by the predominance of one out of the four fluids in the human body  

d. An eccentric person 


Answer- A character whose temper is determined by the predominance of one out of the four fluids in the human body


Que- Name the author of The New Criticism ? 

a. F. R. Leavis  

b. Allen Tate  

c. John Crowe Ransom  

d. R. P. Blackmur 


Answer- John Crowe Ransom

Previous Post Next Post