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Practice Set 7

December 12, 2025
Questionnaire

1. Which of the following is a hallmark of Neo-classical literature?

A. Emphasis on reason, order, and classical models

B. Celebration of nature and imagination

C. Use of free verse and stream of consciousness

D. Focus on medieval chivalry

 

2. Which year marks the end of the Elizabethan era?

A. 1600

B. 1603

C. 1616

D. 1625

 

3. Negative Capability (Keats) refers to—

A. The poet’s mastery of rhyme

B. Acceptance of uncertainty and ambiguity without seeking reason

C. Imitation of classical models

D. Use of heroic couplets

 

4. The novel Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand primarily addresses—

A. Partition

B. Caste oppression

C. Colonial bureaucracy

D. Peasant revolt

 

5. R.K. Narayan’s first novel Swami and Friends was published in:

A. 1929

B. 1930

C. 1935

D. 1940

 

6. Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment was due to—

A. Political activism

B. Homosexuality 

C. Blasphemy

D. Criticism of the monarchy

 

7. Thomas Sheridan was closely associated with which major Enlightenment figure in promoting education and language refinement?

A. Samuel Johnson

B. David Hume

C. Jonathan Swift

D. Edmund Burke

 

8. The 18th-century Elocution Movement primarily focused on:

A. Symbolic logic and grammar

B. Proper pronunciation, vocal delivery, and rhetorical expression

C. Translation of classical texts

D. Development of free verse prosody

 

9. Which figure is most strongly associated with the formalization of elocution as a discipline?

A. John Dryden

B. Thomas Sheridan

C. Edmund Burke

D. Jeremy Bentham

 

10. James Joyce’s Ulysses is set entirely on which date?

A. June 16, 1904

B. April 23, 1901

C. December 7, 1910

D. July 4, 1900

 

11. Joyce’s technique of “epiphany,” first formulated in Stephen Hero, refers to:

A. A dramatic plot twist

B. A sudden spiritual revelation in ordinary moments

C. A mythic parallel structure

D. A political awakening

 

12. Which of the following works uses the “stream of consciousness” technique most radically?

A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

B. Dubliners

C. Exiles

D. Finnegans Wake

 

13. Which work by Thomas Sheridan outlines his ideas on proper speaking and reading?

A. The Critic as Artist

B. A Course of Lectures on Elocution

C. On Liberty

D. Lives of the Poets

 

14. Protagonist's Leopold Bloom in Ulysses parallels which classical figure?

A. Achilles

B. Ulysses (Odysseus)

C. Aeneas

D. Hector

 

15. Who among the following was a contemporary of Shakespeare?

A. John Milton

B. Geoffrey Chaucer

C. Christopher Marlowe

D. Alexander Pope

 

16. Ralph Waldo Emerson was contemporary with which major American writer?

A. Edgar Allan Poe

B. Ernest Hemingway

C. T.S. Eliot

D. Toni Morrison

 

17. In The Canterbury Tales which pilgrim is described as “a perfect gentle knight”?

A. The Squire

B. The Monk

C. The Knight

D. The Franklin

 

18. Which Dostoevsky novel explores the philosophical conflict between rational egoism and Christian moral responsibility?

A. Demons

B. The Brothers Karamazov

C. Crime and Punishment

D. The Idiot

 

19. Conrad’s Nostromo is primarily set in a fictional South American republic named:

A. El Dorado

B. Costaguana

C. Mariposa

D. San Marcos

 

20. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “In Memoriam A.H.H.” to mourn the death of:

A. His father

B. His son

C. His closest friend Arthur Hallam

D. His brother Frederick

 

21. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "Notes from Underground" is considered foundational for which modern philosophical movement?

A. Pragmatism

B. Existentialism

C. Absurdism

D. Logical Positivism

 

22. Thomas Dekker collaborated most frequently with which contemporary playwright of the Elizabethan age?

A. John Dryden

B. Thomas Middleton

C. Richard Sheridan

D. W.B. Yeats

 

23. The dominant metre of The Canterbury Tales is:

A. Iambic pentameter in heroic couplets

B. Iambic tetrameter

C. Alliterative verse

D. Blank verse

 

24. Chaucer’s rhyme royal stanza consists of:

A. 8 lines, abababcc

B. 7 lines, ababbcc

C. 6 lines, ababcc

D. 9 lines, ababbcbcc

 

25. Michael Madhusudan Dutt is celebrated for introducing which Western form into Bengali literature?

A. Ballad

B. Epic in blank verse

C. Dramatic monologue

D. Short story

 

26. Which of the following authors died at a very young age (23) yet left a lasting impact on Indian English poetry?

A. Sarojini Naidu

B. Michael Madhusudan Dutt

C. Toru Dutt

D. Kalidasa

 

27. In structuralism, the distinction between langue and parole refers to:

A. Style vs content

B. The system of language vs individual speech acts

C. Form vs meaning

D. Grammar vs rhetoric

 

28. A poem that narrates a story with characters and plot but remains shorter and more song-like than an epic is best classified as a:

A. Lyric ode

B. Ballad

C. Pastoral elegy

D. Rhyme royal narrative

 

29. The term “Horizon of Expectations” in Reception Theory was coined by:

A. Hans-Georg Gadamer

B. Wolfgang Iser

C. Hans Robert Jauss

D. Stanley Fish

 

30. In Paradise Lost, which angel warns Adam of Satan’s plot?

A. Raphael

B. Uriel

C. Gabriel

D. Michael

 

31. The character Buck Mulligan appears in which modernist novel?

A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

B. Ulysses

C. To the Lighthouse

D. The Sound and the Fury

 

32. "A little learning is a dangerous thing” is a famous line from whose work?

A. Alexander Pope

B. Jonathan Swift

C. Samuel Johnson

D. John Dryden

 

33. Which novel begins with the line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”?

A. Vanity Fair

B. A Tale of Two Cities

C. Middlemarch

D. Great Expectations

 

34. Who wrote the essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent"?

A. Eliot

B. I.A. Richards

C. F.R. Leavis

D. Matthew Arnold

 

35. In The Tempest, who says: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on”?

A. Prospero

B. Ariel

C. Gonzalo

D. Antonio

 

36. “The heart of darkness” in Conrad’s text symbolically refers to:

A. British Empire

B. Belgian imperialism

C. African tribes

D. Marlow’s conscience

 

37. The river Floss is central to which Victorian novel?

A. Middlemarch

B. The Mill on the Floss

C. Adam Bede

D. Jude the Obscure

 

38. "A room of one’s own” is primarily arguing for:

A. Class equality

B. Artistic freedom for women

C. Free schooling

D. Anti-colonial protest

 

39. Who said: “The medium is the message”?

A. Marshall McLuhan

B. Raymond Williams

C. Northrop Frye

D. Cleanth Brooks

 

40. The character Queequeg appears in:

A. Billy Budd

B. Moby-Dick

C. The Scarlet Letter

D. Heart of Darkness

 

41. "Waiting for Godot" originally written in which language?

A. English

B. Irish

C. French

D. German

 

42. The phrase “dark lady” is associated with:

A. Shakespeare’s Sonnets

B. Donne’s Elegies

C. Marvell’s Lyrics

D. Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella

 

43. The term “mimesis” is first systematically developed by:

A. Aristotle

B. Plato

C. Horace

D. Longinus

 

44. The line “Hope is the thing with feathers” is written by:

A. Sylvia Plath

B. Emily Dickinson

C. Anne Bradstreet

D. Elizabeth Bishop

 

45. McLuhan’s idea of “hot” vs “cool” media primarily distinguishes based on:

A. Degree of technological determinism

B. Level of audience participation

C. Amount of information stored in the medium

D. Extension of the senses involved

 

46. Cleanth Brooks’s approach to poetic structure emphasizes:

A. Ideological struggle in language

B. Archetypes and mythic cycles

C. Paradox, tension, and unity of effect

D. Audience response variability

 

47. In "Death of a Salesman," Biff discovers Willy’s affair in:

A. Chicago

B. New York

C. Boston

D. Philadelphia

 

48. Which critic authored Practical Criticism?

A. T.S. Eliot

B. I.A. Richards

C. Cleanth Brooks

D. Leavis

 

49. Printing Press was introduced in England in:

A. 1440

B. 1476

C. 1500

D. 1550

 

50. Utopia by Thomas More was published in:

A. 1516

B. 1498

C. 1525

D. 1540