The Waste Land MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The Waste Land MCQs
Updated on: October 22, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 17 min

The Waste Land MCQs

1. From which classical work does the epigraph of The Waste Land come?

A. Virgil’s Aeneid
B. Ovid’s Metamorphoses
C. Petronius’ Satyricon
D. Dante’s Inferno

C. Petronius’ Satyricon
The epigraph, featuring the Sibyl, is taken from the Roman work Satyricon by Petronius.

2. In Petronius’ Satyricon, what does the Sibyl wish for?

A. Eternal youth
B. Riches and power
C. To die
D. To be queen

C. To die
Granted eternal life but not youth, the withered Sibyl longs for death to end her suffering.

3. What does the Sibyl symbolize in Eliot’s use of the epigraph?

A. Immortality with endless joy
B. Endless life without renewal or meaning
C. The triumph of Christian faith
D. Fertility in spring

B. Endless life without renewal or meaning
She symbolizes the state of the Waste Land: a culture that cannot “die” to be spiritually reborn.

4. Why did Eliot dedicate The Waste Land “to Ezra Pound, il miglior fabbro”?

A. Pound created the title
B. Pound edited and shaped the draft
C. Pound financed its publication
D. Pound translated it into Italian

B. Pound edited and shaped the draft
Pound’s extensive edits cut the poem significantly, helping create its final modernist form.
5. Where does the phrase il miglior fabbro originally appear?

A. Dante’s Purgatorio
B. Homer’s Iliad
C. Virgil’s Georgics
D. Shakespeare’s Hamlet

A. Dante’s Purgatorio
The phrase (“the better craftsman”) is from Dante’s *Purgatorio*, Canto XXVI.

6. In Dante’s Purgatorio, who is called “il miglior fabbro”?

A. Petrarch
B. Arnaut Daniel
C. Boccaccio
D. Guido Cavalcanti

B. Arnaut Daniel
The poet Guido Guinizelli uses the phrase to praise the troubadour poet Arnaut Daniel.

7. How many sections does The Waste Land have?

A. Three
B. Four
C. Five
D. Six

C. Five
The poem is divided into five named sections, beginning with “The Burial of the Dead.”

8. Which section of The Waste Land is titled “The Burial of the Dead”?

A. First
B. Second
C. Third
D. Fifth

A. First
“The Burial of the Dead” is the first section, introducing the themes of sterility and memory.

9. What is the title of the fifth and final section of The Waste Land?

A. What the Thunder Said
B. The Fire Sermon
C. Death by Water
D. A Game of Chess

A. What the Thunder Said
The final section draws from Hindu scriptures, offering a fragmented path toward spiritual renewal.
10. Which short section of The Waste Land features Phlebas the Phoenician?

A. The Fire Sermon
B. Death by Water
C. A Game of Chess
D. The Burial of the Dead

B. Death by Water
This brief fourth section describes the drowning of Phlebas, a figure of the sacrificed god.

11. Which blind prophet from Greek mythology appears in the poem?

A. Tiresias
B. Oedipus
C. Cassandra
D. Orpheus

A. Tiresias
Eliot states Tiresias, who is both man and woman, is the central figure who “sees” the whole poem.

12. Which mythical figure associated with fertility myths underlies the poem?

A. The Fisher King
B. Theseus
C. Persephone
D. Heracles

A. The Fisher King
The legend of the wounded Fisher King, whose impotence causes the land to become barren, is a key symbol.

13. The line “April is the cruellest month” is an inversion of which earlier poet’s view?

A. Wordsworth
B. Chaucer
C. Milton
D. Shelley

B. Chaucer
Chaucer’s *Canterbury Tales* famously begins by praising April’s “sweet showers” that bring life.

14. The line “O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag” echoes a song from which Elizabethan dramatist?

A. Marlowe
B. Shakespeare
C. Ben Jonson
D. Middleton

B. Shakespeare
It contrasts a modern, jazzy ragtime song with the high art of Shakespeare, showing cultural decay.
15. Which Eastern text is quoted in the poem’s closing lines?

A. The Upanishads
B. The Quran
C. The Tao Te Ching
D. The Bible

A. The Upanishads
The poem ends with “Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata” from the *Brihadaranyaka Upanishad*.

16. What is a central theme of The Waste Land?

A. Industrial progress
B. Cultural fragmentation and spiritual barrenness
C. Celebration of Victorian values
D. Praise of the English countryside

B. Cultural fragmentation and spiritual barrenness
The poem portrays the modern world as a sterile “waste land” lacking spiritual meaning.

17. Which recurring motif symbolizes destruction and renewal?

A. Fire
B. Water
C. Air
D. Earth

B. Water
Water is a dual symbol: it represents both drowning (death) and life-giving rain (renewal).

18. What does the repeated Sanskrit word “Shantih” mean?

A. Truth
B. Peace
C. Life
D. Silence

B. Peace
The poem ends with “Shantih,” which means “the peace which passeth understanding.”

19. What literary technique is most dominant in the poem?

A. Allegory
B. Pastoral
C. Allusion and collage
D. Epic simile

C. Allusion and collage
The poem is famous for its collage-like structure, piecing together fragments and allusions.
20. Which war heavily influenced the poem’s imagery?

A. Napoleonic Wars
B. Crimean War
C. World War I
D. World War II

C. World War I
The poem’s sense of disillusionment and fragmentation is a direct response to the trauma of World War I.

21. In the famous opening line of the poem, which month is paradoxically declared to be the cruellest?

A. March
B. May
C. April
D. October

C. April
April is cruel because it forces life and “memory and desire” on a world that prefers numbness.

22. According to the speaker, what specific flower does April breed out of the dead land?

A. Snowdrops
B. Lilacs
C. Daffodils
D. Roses

B. Lilacs
“April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land…”

23. What two abstract human faculties are described as being mixed and stirred by the arrival of Spring?

A. Pain and pleasure
B. Memory and desire
C. Hope and fear
D. Life and death

B. Memory and desire
Spring is cruel because it stirs “memory and desire” in the spiritually dead inhabitants.

24. In contrast to the cruelty of Spring, what element of Winter is said to have kept the inhabitants warm?

A. Forgetful snow
B. Dried tubers
C. Heavy blankets
D. Hot coffee

A. Forgetful snow
Winter was preferable because its “forgetful snow” covered the land in a numb peace.
25. The speaker recalls a past summer experience. Over which specific German lake did this surprising summer shower occur?

A. The Thames
B. The Starnbergersee
C. Lake Leman
D. The Mediterranean Sea

B. The Starnbergersee
This memory of a German lake introduces the aristocratic voice of Marie.

26. After stopping for a coffee in the colonnade, to which public garden did the speakers go for a walk?

A. The Hofgarten
B. London Bridge
C. The Metropole
D. The Hyacinth garden

A. The Hofgarten
The memory shifts from the Starnbergersee to the Hofgarten, a garden in Munich.

27. The character speaking the German phrase “Bin gar keine Russin…” claims to be originally from where?

A. Russia
B. Germany
C. Lithuania
D. Poland

C. Lithuania
The speaker, Marie, clarifies: “I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania, a true German.”

28. What is the name of the woman who recounts the memory of the childhood sled ride with her archduke cousin?

A. Belladonna
B. Lil
C. Marie
D. Sibyl

C. Marie
Marie, a displaced aristocrat, recalls a childhood moment of freedom and fear on the sled.

29. According to Marie’s recollection of her childhood, where does she state that one feels a sense of freedom?

A. In the Hofgarten
B. In Lithuania
C. In the mountains
D. In the south in winter

C. In the mountains
This memory of freedom (“In the mountains, there you feel free”) contrasts with the poem’s present paralysis.
30. The poem uses a biblical prophetic voice to address a figure as “Son of man.” To whom is this solemn address most likely directed?

A. T. S. Eliot
B. The reader
C. Stetson
D. The Sibyl

B. The reader
This address, echoing the prophet Ezekiel, pulls the reader directly into the desolate spiritual landscape.

31. The speaker tells the ‘Son of man’ that he knows only “A heap of broken images” where what climate condition prevails?

A. The wind blows cold
B. The sun beats
C. The rain falls hard
D. The fog settles

B. The sun beats
This is the sterile, dry landscape of the waste land, where there is no life-giving water.

32. In this desolate landscape, what does the dead tree fail to provide?

A. Fruit
B. Flowers
C. Shelter
D. Wood

C. Shelter
The dead tree, like the barren land, offers no comfort, shelter, or solace from the sun.

33. In the land of dry stone and no water, what sound is conspicuously absent?

A. The sound of the cricket
B. The sound of the wind
C. The sound of water
D. The sound of thunder

C. The sound of water
The absence of “the sound of water” is the primary symbol of the land’s spiritual drought.

34. The speaker invites the ‘Son of man’ to find shadow and shelter under what specific object?

A. Under the black rock
B. Under the dry stone
C. Under the red rock
D. Under the dead tree

C. Under the red rock
The “shadow under this red rock” offers the only refuge from the sun in the barren land.
35. The speaker promises to show the ‘Son of man’ something different from his shadow, a famous phrase which is:

A. Fear in the desert
B. Fear in a broken image
C. Fear in a handful of dust
D. Fear under the red rock

C. Fear in a handful of dust
This line evokes the “Burial of the Dead,” linking human mortality directly to the spiritual dryness.

36. The German quotation from Wagner’s opera, “Frisch weht der Wind…”, asks about the location of whom?

A. The Sibyl
B. Mein Irisch Kind (My Irish child)
C. Marie
D. The drowned sailor

B. Mein Irisch Kind (My Irish child)
This line from *Tristan und Isolde* evokes a story of thwarted love and a journey over water.

37. In the subsequent memory of a failed romantic encounter, who is the unnamed speaker known as?

A. Belladonna
B. Marie
C. The hyacinth girl
D. Madame Sosostris

C. The hyacinth girl
This scene describes a moment of failed connection and emotional paralysis in a garden.

38. After returning late from the Hyacinth garden, the speaker describes himself as being in what existential state?

A. Tired but content
B. Neither living nor dead, knowing nothing
C. Frightened, holding on tight
D. Full of memory and desire

B. Neither living nor dead, knowing nothing
This phrase captures the speaker’s state of spiritual emptiness and paralysis.

39. The desolate German phrase “Oed’ und leer das Meer” is a quotation related to which classical story adapted into an opera?

A. Tristan und Isolde
B. The Odyssey
C. The Aeneid
D. The Tempest

A. Tristan und Isolde
Meaning “desolate and empty the sea,” it signifies the absence of the rescuing ship for Tristan.
40. The clairvoyant, Madame Sosostris, is described as being the wisest woman in what part of the world?

A. Asia
B. America
C. Europe
D. London

C. Europe
She is ironically called the “wisest woman in Europe,” though she is a fraud with a “wicked pack of cards.”

41. What specific tool did Madame Sosostris possess for her clairvoyant readings?

A. A crystal ball
B. A wicked pack of cards
C. Tea leaves
D. A magic mirror

B. A wicked pack of cards
She uses a debased version of the Tarot deck, reflecting the decay of spiritual wisdom.

42. Which card does Madame Sosostris first identify as belonging to the person whose fortune she is telling?

A. Belladonna
B. The Hanged Man
C. The one-eyed merchant
D. The drowned Phoenician Sailor

D. The drowned Phoenician Sailor
This card connects to Phlebas in Section IV and the theme of death by water without rebirth.

43. Which specific phrase, a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is used to describe the sailor’s transformation?

A. He passed the stages of his age and youth.
B. Those are pearls that were his eyes.
C. Fear death by water.
D. He who was living is now dead.

B. Those are pearls that were his eyes.
This allusion contrasts the magical, renewing sea-change in *The Tempest* with the sterile death in the poem.

44. Who in the Tarot reading is identified as “The Lady of the Rocks, The lady of situations”?

A. Marie
B. Mrs. Equitone
C. Belladonna
D. Lil

C. Belladonna
Belladonna, literally “beautiful lady,” is part of the debased Tarot pack, representing a dangerous sensuality.
45. Besides the sailor and Belladonna, which other figures from the cards are named by Madame Sosostris?

A. The Hanged Man and The Tower
B. The man with three staves and the Wheel
C. The one-eyed merchant and The Fool
D. The Hanged Man and the Blank Card

B. The man with three staves and the Wheel
These figures, along with the one-eyed merchant, are part of her corrupt version of the Tarot.

46. Which important card from the Tarot pack does Madame Sosostris explicitly state she is unable to find?

A. The Wheel
B. The Hanged Man
C. The one-eyed merchant
D. The drowned Phoenician Sailor

B. The Hanged Man
The missing Hanged Man card represents the sacrificed god, whose absence is central to the land’s sterility.

47. Based on the card reading, what specific and ominous warning does Madame Sosostris give?

A. Beware of the Hyacinth girl
B. Fear death by water
C. Avoid the Hofgarten
D. Stay away from London Bridge

B. Fear death by water
This warning connects the Phoenician Sailor to the theme of drowning as a sterile, final death.

48. In her vision, what does Madame Sosostris see large crowds of people doing?

A. Walking round in a ring
B. Flowing up and down a hill
C. Stumbling in cracked earth
D. Waiting for the rain to fall

A. Walking round in a ring
Her vision of a crowd “walking round in a ring” prefigures the aimless, damned crowds on London Bridge.

49. To which one of her clients does Madame Sosostris offer to bring the horoscope herself?

A. Lil
B. Mrs. Porter
C. Mrs. Equitone
D. Belladonna

C. Mrs. Equitone
This detail adds to the mundane, commercial nature of her “supernatural” business.
50. What two-word descriptive name is given to the modern urban setting that appears after the fortune telling?

A. Unreal City
B. Falling Towers
C. Withered Stumps
D. London Town

A. Unreal City
This phrase describes the dream-like, spiritually dead city of London, populated by a flowing crowd.

Brief Overview

The Waste Land is a long, influential poem by T. S. Eliot. It was published in 1922 and is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature. The poem shows the despair and confusion of European civilization after the trauma of World War I.

The poem is broken into five distinct sections. It uses many different voices, languages, and literary allusions, which makes it complex and difficult to read. The central theme is the sterility and lack of meaning in modern life, symbolized by a spiritual “waste land.”

The narrator introduces many characters and scenes that show this decay. These include a depressing pub scene, a rich woman bored with her marriage, and a typist having a dull sexual encounter. Sex is presented as mechanical and joyless, not life-giving.

The poem is deeply concerned with the failure of human relationships and religion. Eliot constantly contrasts the empty present with stories of spiritual vitality from the past. He includes figures from mythology and literature, like the Fisher King and Tiresias.

In the final section, the poem turns toward a slight possibility of redemption. It includes lines from the Hindu Upanishads, such as “Datta” (Give), “Dayadhvam” (Sympathize), and “Damyata” (Control).

The poem ends with the fragmented phrase, Shantih shantih shantih, suggesting a final peace that is hard to reach.

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