English Literature MCQs with explanations

Question 1

According to Dante, what does the term “gramatica” mean?

Accepted Answer

It is static language with unchanging rules.

Question 2

How many lines are there in a Sonnet?

Accepted Answer

14

Question 3

One purpose of LITERARY CRITICISM is described below: “The historical approach, for instance, might be helpful in addressing a problem in Thomas Otway’s play Venice Preserv’d. Why are the conspirators, despite the horrible, bloody details of their obviously brutish plan, portrayed in a sympathetic light? If we look at the author and his time, we see that he was a Tory whose play was performed in the wake of the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Bill Crisis, and that there are obvious similarities between the Conspiracy in the play and the Popish Plot in history. The Tories would never approve of the bloody Popish Plot, but they nonetheless sympathized with the plotters for the way they were abused by the Tory enemy, the Whigs. Thus it makes sense for Otway to condemn the conspiracy itself in Vencie Preserv’d without condemning the conspirators themselves.” What purpose does this prescribe to?

Accepted Answer

To help resolve a question, problem, or difficulty in the readin

Question 4

Which of the following statements best describes the behavior of the upper-class characters in Congreve’s The Way of the World?

Accepted Answer

They are almost universally selfabsorbed and willing to do anything to get what they want.

Question 5

During the early 20th century, a black person’s purpose in passing might have been________?

Accepted Answer

To get better accommodations on the train, better seats in the theatre.

Question 6

Which of the following statements about the poems in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience is true?

Accepted Answer

The poems criticize religious institutions for not helping the oppressed.

Question 7

Which of the following events increased the appeal of communism among American intellectuals both black and white in the years between 1918 and 1939?

Accepted Answer

The Great Depression

Question 8

Even in John Milton’s lifetime, “Paradise Regained” was considered in literary quality as largely to “Paradise Lost.”?

Accepted Answer

inferior

Question 9

who was the companion of Adam in paradise?

Accepted Answer

eve

Question 10

How many chapters are in the Quran?

Accepted Answer

114

English Literature MCQs with Explanations