English Literature MCQs Set 10

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature


Updated on: November 9, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 23 min

English Literature MCQs

Set-10

1. In T. S. Eliot’s theory of impersonality, the poet is compared to which of the following?

A. A sculptor
B. A catalyst
C. A historian
D. A prophet


B. A catalyst
In Tradition and the Individual Talent, T. S. Eliot compares the poet to a catalyst, which facilitates a chemical reaction without being affected itself, implying poetic detachment from personal emotions.

2. “Objective correlative” as a device to express emotions through a set of objects or situations was popularized by:

A. John Crowe Ransom
B. T. S. Eliot
C. F. R. Leavis
D. Cleanth Brooks


B. T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot used the term objective correlative in his essay on Hamlet, referring to a symbolic set of objects or events that evoke specific emotions in the reader.
3. The term “Negative Capability” was coined by which Romantic poet?

A. Percy Bysshe Shelley
B. William Wordsworth
C. John Keats
D. Lord Byron


C. John Keats
John Keats introduced Negative Capability, referring to the poet’s ability to accept uncertainty and ambiguity without the need for rational explanation.

4. Who wrote the essay “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time”?

A. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
B. Matthew Arnold
C. John Dryden
D. F. R. Leavis


B. Matthew Arnold
In this essay, Matthew Arnold emphasizes disinterestedness and intellectual objectivity as the primary roles of a critic.
5. The phrase “A willing suspension of disbelief” is associated with which critic-poet?

A. William Blake
B. S. T. Coleridge
C. W. B. Yeats
D. T. S. Eliot


B. S. T. Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge introduced the phrase “willing suspension of disbelief” to explain how readers accept supernatural elements in literature for poetic pleasure.

 

6. Astrophel and Stella by Sir Philip Sydney reveals :

A. The rich love between the two
B. The unhappy love between the two
C. The nature of ideal love
D. The hurdles in love

B. The unhappy love between the two
The sonnet sequence chronicles the passionate, unfulfilled love of Astrophel (Sidney) for Stella (Penelope Rich), who is married to another man, making it a tale of unhappy love.
7. “He was as fresh as is the month / Of May and as the new abaysshed nightingale.” These lines are from:

A. The Book of Duchess
B. Confessio Amantis
C. Prologue to Canterbury
D. Troilus and Crisevde

C. Prologue to Canterbury
These lines are from the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, used to describe the young Squire.

8. In Shakespeare’s Antony, Cleopatra, Antony is recalled to Rome due to:

A. Octavius’ jealousy
B. the death of his wife Fulvia
C. the estrangement with Cleopatra
D. his marriage with Octavia wife Octavia

B. the death of his wife Fulvia
Antony is summoned back to Rome because his estranged wife, Fulvia, dies after having warred against Octavius.
10. Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton is :

A. a religious satire
B. a political satire
C. a tragedy
D. a utopian work

C. a tragedy
Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women (c. 1621) is a Jacobean tragedy known for its dark themes of immorality, lust, and greed.
11. The Satan of Paradise Regained describes himself as :

A. a fallen Angel
B. an unconquerable spirit
C. a spirit unfortunate
D. an enviable spirit

C. a spirit unfortunate
In Paradise Regained, the Satan who speaks to Christ presents himself as a wiser, more humble, and unfortunate spirit who has learned through bitter experience, contrasting with his defiant posture in Paradise Lost.

12. Who represents allegorical public figure of the Duke of Monmouth in Absalom and Achitophel
A. Absalom
B. Achitophe
C. David
D. Corah

A. Absalom
In Dryden’s allegory, Absalom represents James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate but popular son of King Charles II (David).

14. In which book of Gulliver’s Travels, Swift satirises the Royal Society ?
A. Book-I (Lilliput)
B. Book-II (Brobdingnag)
C. Book-III (Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib)
D. Book-IV (Houyhnhnms and Yahoos)

C. Book-III
Book III features Gulliver’s visit to the flying island of Laputa and the Grand Academy of Lagado, which is a scathing satire on the impractical and absurd experiments conducted by the Royal Society (the key scientific body of the age).

15. Joseph Andrews is greatly influenced by the following work :
A. Don Quixote
B. Clarissa
C. Robinson Crusoe
D. Pilgrim’s Progress

A. Don Quixote
Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (1742) is directly modeled on and heavily indebted to Cervantes’s Spanish classic, particularly its picaresque structure and humor.
16. ‘Role playing’ is a major motif in:

A. The Good Natured Man
B. Sentimental Comedy
C. Cato
D. She Stoops to Conquer

D. She Stoops to Conquer
Oliver Goldsmith’s play features mistaken identity, with the heroes believing a gentleman’s house is an inn, and involves role playing (Kate Hardcastle “stooping” to play the role of a chambermaid).

17. “But most thro’ midnight streets I hear / How the youthful Harlot’s curse / Blasts the new born Infant’s tear / And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse” Identify the poem in these lines
A. Infant Sorrow
B. London
C. Angerie of Innocence
D. The New Jerusalem

B. London
These lines are from William Blake’s powerful condemnation of social hypocrisy and oppression in “London” (from Songs of Experience).

18. Identify the poem which has an element of humour in it:
A. The Prelude
B. Lamia
C. Hours of Idleness
D. Peter Bell, the Third

D. Peter Bell, the Third
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Peter Bell the Third (1819) is a fierce satire of William Wordsworth (whose original poem it parodies), full of sávage humor.

19. Name the novel of Jane Austen in which a young Parson is a desirable suitor and prospective husband for a sensible young girl.
A. Pride and Prejudice
B. Emma
C. Mansfield Park
D. Northanger Abbey

A. Pride and Prejudice
Mr. Collins, a young parson, is proposed as a highly desirable suitor (due to his inheritance) for the sensible Elizabeth Bennet by her parents.
20. ‘She Walks in Beauty’ is a poem written by:

A. John Keats
B. R.W. Emerson
C. Lord Byron
D. P.B. Shelley

C. Lord Byron
“She Walks in Beauty” (1814) is one of Lord Byron’s most famous short lyrics.

21. “On Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts” is written by
A. Robert Morrison
B. Thomas De Quincey
C. Alexander Morris
D. Alexander Dumas

B. Thomas De Quincey
Thomas De Quincey’s essay is a famous work of satirical and witty prose, treating crime from an aesthetic perspective.

23. Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities was inspired by:
A. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
B. The French Revolution by Carlyle
C. Essays Critical and Historical by T.B. Macaulay
D. Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke’s

B. The French Revolution by Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle’s epic history, The French Revolution (1837), was the primary historical source and inspiration for Dickens’s novel.

24. Identify the autobiographical novel of George Eliot.
A. Middlemarch
B. The Mill on the Floss
C. Daniel Deronda
D. Adam Bede

B. The Mill on the Floss
George Eliot’s novel, focusing on the intellectually ambitious Maggie Tulliver, draws heavily on Eliot’s own childhood and family experiences.
25. Identify the poem in which the following lines occur :

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways.”
A. In Memoriam
B. Ulysses
C. Morte d’ Arthur
D. The Lady of Shallot

C. Morte d’ Arthur
These lines are spoken by King Arthur as he faces death in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s epic poem.

26. Name the author of the work Modern Painters.
A. John Ruskin
B. William Morris
C. Walter Pater
D. Christina Rossetti

A. John Ruskin
John Ruskin’s five-volume Modern Painters (1843-1860) is a seminal work of Victorian art criticism.

27. The following play was inspired by Ibsen’s “The Doll’s House”.
A. Lady Windermes
B. The Second Mrs. Tanqueray
C. Candida
D. The Land of Heart’s Desire

C. Candida
George Bernard Shaw’s play Candida (1898) directly challenges the outcome of Ibsen’s play, positing a heroine who chooses domesticity over independence.

29. Lady Wishfort does not want her niece to marry Mirabell because :
A. She wants Millamant’s fortune
B. She is angry with Mirabell because he pretended to love her
C. She wants her daughter Mrs. Fainall to marry Mirabell
D. She wants Tony Witwould to marry Mirabell

B. She is angry with Mirabell because he pretended to love her
Lady Wishfort finds out that Mirabell seduced her maid and tricked her into believing he was interested in her, hence her fury.

30. “But at my back I always hear / Times winged chariot hurrying near.” Who has written these these lines ?
A. Andrew Marvell
B. John Donne
C. George Herbert
D. Pichard

A. Andrew Marvell
These lines are from Andrew Marvell’s famous Metaphysical poem, “To His Coy Mistress.”
31. Who was the co-author of the play “The Personal Enemy” along with Johr Osborne ?

A. Antony Creighton
B. Harold Pinter
C. Eugene Ionesco
D. Samuel Beckett

A. Antony Creighton
John Osborne co-wrote his unproduced early play The Personal Enemy with Anthony Creighton.

32. “Long-legged Fly” was a poem
A. Edward Thomas
B. W.B. Yeats
C. Robert Bridges
D. John Masefie

B. W.B. Yeats
“Long-legged Fly” is a famous later poem by W. B. Yeats, reflecting on the inner life of great figures.

33. Madam Sosotr [is a] character in the following poem:
A. The [Love Song] of J. Alfred [Prufrock]
B. Geronton
C. The Wasteland
D. Ash-Wednesday

C. The Wasteland
Madame Sosostris is the fortune-teller in the first section of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

34. Name the author of the lines : “Lay [your] head, my love, / Human on my faithless arm.”
A. Stephen Spender
B. Louis MacNeice
C. W.H. Auden
D. C. Day Lewis

C. W.H. Auden
These are the famous opening lines of W. H. Auden’s poem “Lullaby” (also known as “Lay your sleeping head, my love”).
35. Alison in Look Back in Anger can be considered as:

A. Social Snob
B. Dutiful daughter
C. Suffering wife
D. Angry rebel

C. Suffering wife
Alison Porter endures the constant verbal abuse of her husband, Jimmy, and is largely viewed as the passive, suffering wife figure in the play.

36. Identify the false statement about Waiting for Godot from the following:
A. The play has asymmetrical symmetry
B. The boy who comes in Act 2 is different from the boy who comes in Act 1
C. Lucky’s speech is a parody of academic discourse
D. The play ends with a recognition

D. The play ends with a recognition
The play ends not with recognition, but with stasis and uncertainty (“They do not move”), reinforcing the ongoing meaninglessness of the wait.

37. Identify the novel that uses the narrative style of the 19th century realistic novel.
A. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
B. The Collector
C. The Magus
D. Mantissa

A. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
John Fowles’s novel (1969) is largely written in the style of a 19th-century realistic novel (like those of George Eliot), though this is broken by modern interventions.

38. The following poet is known for his anthropomorphism:
A. Philip Larkin
B. Ted Hughes
C. Donald Davie
D. D.J. Enright

B. Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes is known for his powerful poetry dealing with animals that are often given human psychological and philosophical depth (anthropomorphism).

39. Identify a campus novel from the following:
A. Heart of the Matter
B. Brighton Rock
C. Lucky Jim
D. Clockwork Orange

C. Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis’s novel (1954) is a seminal example of the campus novel, set in a provincial British university.
40. Identify the false statement from the following as per Aristotle’s Poetics:

A. A tragedy should not deal with the fall of a good man from prosperity to adversity
B. A tragedy should not show the fall of a bad man from prosperity to adversity
C. A tragedy should not show the rise of a bad man from adversity to prosperity
D. Tragedy as a literary genre is inferior to epic

D. Tragedy as a literary genre is inferior to epic
Aristotle actually argued in the Poetics that Tragedy is superior to Epic because it achieves its purpose (Catharsis) in a shorter form.

42. Coleridge’s idea on Imaginati[o]n [is] a rejection of:
A. British empiricism
B. Transcendentalism
C. British imperialism
D. Radicalism

A. British empiricism
Coleridge’s theory of the Imagination (in Biographia Literaria) is a direct rejection of the mechanistic psychology and British Empiricism (Locke, Hume).

43. The Timber was authored by
A. Ben Jonson
B. Philip Sidney
C. Steven Gosson
D. George Puttenham

A. Ben Jonson
Timber: or, Discoveries; Made upon Men and Matter is a posthumously published volume of prose notes and criticism by Ben Jonson.

44. [Which] one of the following does not apply to New Critical Method?
A. It looks for irony and paradox
B. It uses the biography of the author
C. It disregards the context of the text
D. It sees the text as autonomous

B. It uses the biography of the author
New Criticism famously rejected the author’s biography as irrelevant to interpretation (the “Intentional Fallacy”).
45. Who is the French feminist whose account of cultural construction of woman as “Other” became very popular?

A. Julia Mitchell
B. Julia Kristeva
C. Simone de Beauvoir
D. Robin Morgan

C. Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) famously analyzes woman as the “Other” within a patriarchal society.

46. Name the organization founded by Betty Friedan, the writer of The Feminine Mystique.
A. National Organization for Women
B. Equal Opportunity Commission
C. Backlash
D. Third Wave Organization

A. National Organization for Women
Betty Friedan co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.
47. Who wrote History and Class Consciousness?
A. Terry Eagleton
B. George Lukacs
C. Leon Trotsky
D. Lucien Goldman
B. George Lukacs
György Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness (1923) is a foundational text of Western Marxist thought.

49. Deconstruction as a critical practice emphasizes :
A. Rejection of essentialism
B. Glorification of grand narrative
C. The centrality of the signified
D. The primacy of the text

A. Rejection of essentialism
Deconstruction (Derrida) rejects stable meaning and all forms of essentialism (the belief that things have an inherent nature or essence).

50. Match the following Works with their Writers and choose the [correct option] from the codes given below it: (1) Sexual Politics, (2) The Dialectic of Sex, (3) Sisterhood is Powerful, (4) The Female Eunuck with (I) Kate Millett, (II) S. Firestone, (III) Robin Morgan, (IV) Germaine Greer

A. (3) (2) (1) (4)
B. (2) (3) (4) (1)
C. (3) (4) (1)
D. (1)

D. (1) (I), (2) (II), (3) (III), (4) (IV)
The correct matches are: (1) Sexual Politics – Kate Millett (I); (2) The Dialectic of Sex – S. Firestone (II); (3) Sisterhood is Powerful – Robin Morgan (III); (4) The Female Eunuch – Germaine Greer (IV).

52. [English] as a language is often referred to by the name of the tribés that settled in England around 449. Identify its name:

A. Romance language
B. Anglo-Saxon language
C. language
D. Latinate language

B. Anglo-Saxon language
The English language derives its name from the Angles and Saxons, the Germanic tribés who settled in Britain in the 5th century.

53. Audio-lingual method is associated with:

A. Promoting class-room interaction
B. Promoting task-based learning
C. Promoting class-room repetition
D. Promoting collaborative learning

C. Promoting class-room repetition
The Audio-lingual Method (ALM) heavily relies on drills, memorization, and repetition (pattern practice) to teach language.

54. Communicative language teaching focuses on four competencies. ‘Grammatical’, ‘Sociolinguistic’ ‘Strategic’ and

A. Performative
B. Negotiative
C. Discourse
D. Evaluative

C. Discourse
The four components of Communicative Competence (according to Canale & Swain) are Grammatical, Sociolinguistic, Strategic, and Discourse competence.

55. The term ‘Lexicography’ is used for:

A. Word analysis
B. Lexical geography
C. Dictionary making
D. Word formation

C. Dictionary making
Lexicography is the professional practice of compiling, writing, and editing dictionaries.

57. Dante en[counters] Beatrice in :

A. Inferno
B. Purgatorio
C. Paradiso
D. All of these

C. Paradiso
Beatrice guides Dante through Paradiso (Heaven). Virgil guides him through the first two parts.

58. Goethe’s Faust embodies the spirit of:

A. Romanticism
B. Renaissance
C. Classicism
D. All the three

D. All the three
Faust draws on Renaissance humanism, Classical form, and Romantic yearning for experience, embodying the spirit of all three.

59. Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard is a:

A. Tragedy
B. Comedy
C. Tragi-Comedy
D. Sentimental Comedy

C. Tragi-Comedy
Chekhov himself insisted that his play was a comedy, though it is often interpreted as a tragicomedy because of its sad themes of decline and loss.
60. Which of the following is not a remarkable characteristic of Ibsen’s plays from 1875 to the 1890s?

A. Tragedy of ordinary people in dialogue  rose
B. Unique quality of b[ringing out] the central character
C. Discarding of conventional theatrical effects
D. Existential crises

D. Existential crises
Ibsen’s plays focus on social and psychological drama, realism, and dialogue. While profound, the themes were rooted in social realism, not the later-emerging Existential crises of the Absurdists.

61. Which of the following plays introduced the concept of the “Theatre of the Absurd”?

A. Death of a Salesman
B. Waiting for Godot
C. Pygmalion
D. Arms and the Man


B. Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a landmark work in the Theatre of the Absurd, exploring existentialism and the futility of human actions.

62. The Concept of the Third Theatre was propounded by:

A. Vijay Tendulkar
B. Mahesh Dattani
C. Girish Karnad
D. Badal Sircar

D. Badal Sircar
The Indian playwright Badal Sircar developed the concept of the Third Theatre (or “Third Cinema”) to mean non-commercial, street-based, popular theatre.

63. Nayantara Sahgal’s memoir on Indian Independence is known as

A. Meatless Days
B. Prison and Chocolate Cake
C. A Wounded Civilization
D. Sunlight on a Broken Column

B. Prison and Chocolate Cake
Nayantara Sahgal’s memoir (1954) recounts her early life in the Nehru family circle during the struggle for Indian independence.

64. Whose lines are these? “Into that heaven of freedom, my father, / Let my country awake!”

A. Rabindranath Tagor[e]
B. Sarojini Naidu
C. Sri Aurobindo
D. Mahadevi Verma

A. Rabindranath Tagore
These lines are from Rabindranath Tagore’s poem “Where the mind is without fear,” a powerful patriotic invocation.
65. Which of the following did not write a major historical novel?

A. K.M. Munshi
B. Prem Chand
C. Bankim Chandra
D. [Hari] Narayan Apte

B. Prem Chand
Premchand is known primarily for his social realist novels (Godan) and stories focused on peasant life, unlike the others, who wrote historical fiction.

66. “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d” is an elegy written by Walt Whitman on the death of:

A. John F. Kennedy
B. Janes A. Garfield
C. Abraham Lincoln
D. William McKinley

C. Abraham Lincoln
Walt Whitman wrote this profound elegy to mourn the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865.
67. “Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it is broken. I’m always in s in a race with the Junkyard.” Which character in Death of a Salesman says this?

A. Biff Loman
B. Happy Loman
C. Willy Loman
D. Linda Loman

C. Willy Loman
Willy Loman speaks this line, which captures his deep-seated anxiety over materialism, debt, and the failure of the American Dream.

68. There are two lists given below. Match the authors in List 1 with their nationalities in List 2 by choosing the right option against the code: (I) Patrick White, (II) Nadine Gordimer, (III) Margaret Atwood, (IV) Keri Hulme with (1) Canada, (2) New Zealand, (3) Australia, (4) South Africa

A. (2) (1) (4) (3)
B. (4) (3) (1) (2)
C. (3) (4) (1) (2)
D. (3) (2) (4) (1)

C. (3) (4) (1) (2)
The correct matches are: (I) Patrick White – Australia (3); (II) Nadine Gordimer – South Africa (4); (III) Margaret Atwood – Canada (1); (IV) Keri Hulme – New Zealand (2).

69. Which of the following novels is considered a rewriting of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness?

A. Things Fall Apart
B. A Grain of Wheat
C. A Man of the People
D. Life and Times of Michael K.

A. Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe’s novel is often viewed as a post-colonial rewriting of Conrad, challenging the racist representation of Africa and telling the story from the African perspective.
70. Monica Ali’s Brick Lane is set on a community of East London. Which one is that

A. Punjabi
B. Bangladeshi
C. Gujarati
D. Pakistani

B. Bangladeshi
Brick Lane (2003) focuses on the experiences of the Bangladeshi community in the East End of London.

71. The idea of ‘Negritude’ as the cultural response of the native to the onslaught by colonialism’s culture was propagated by:

A. Ayi Kwei Armah
B. Aime Cesaire
C. Frantz Fanon
D. Arjun

B. Aime Cesaire
The Negritude literary and cultural movement was founded and propagated by Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Léon Damas in the 1930s.

72. “Politics and the English Language” is an essay by:

A. F.R. Leavis
B. Terry Eagleton
C. George Orwell
D. Raymond Williams

C. George Orwell
George Orwell’s 1946 essay famously critiques political dishonesty and bad writing.

73. ‘Panopticism’ is the title [of a chapter] in a well-known book by:

A. Roman Jakobson
B. Michel Foucault
C. Jacques Derrida
D. Jacques Lacan

B. Michel Foucault
The concept of Panopticism (constant, invisible surveillance) is a central chapter in Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish.

74. Who amongst the following belongs to the Freudian school of psychological criticism?

A. Ernest Jones
B. Northrop Frye
C. Lionell Trilling
D. Roman Jakobson

A. Ernest Jones
Ernest Jones was a leading British psychoanalyst and an official biographer of Freud. His work Hamlet and Oedipus is a famous example of Freudian literary criticism.
75. Who [pro]pounded the theory of ‘Vakrokti’ in Indian aesthetics?

A. Anandavardhana
B. Kuntaka
C. Kshemendra
D. Bharata

B. Kuntaka
The Indian aesthetician Kuntaka is famous for his theory that Vakrokti (oblique or striking expression) is the soul of poetry.

Overview

This comprehensive set of 75 questions covers a wide range of topics. It begins with essential concepts from literary theory, such as T.S. Eliot’s “Objective Correlative” and Keats’s “Negative Capability.”

The quiz then follows a historical path. It tests authors from the Renaissance (Chaucer, Sidney), the 17th century (Milton, Dryden), the 18th century (Swift, Fielding), the Romantic period (Blake, Byron, Austen), and the Victorian era (Dickens, Tennyson).

A large section focuses on 20th-century British writers, including T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, and Samuel Beckett.

This set also has questions on other specialised areas. These include American literature (Whitman), Indian literature (Tagore, Rushdie), and World literature (Dante, Ibsen). It features a major section on modern literary theory, such as feminism, Marxism, and deconstruction. The quiz concludes with questions on linguistics.

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