English Literature MCQs

Whose great Dictionary, published in 1755, included more than 114,000 quotations ?

A. William hogarth
B. Jonathan swift
C. Samuel johnson
D. Ben jonson

What did Byron deride with his scathing reference to “’Peddlers,’ and ’Boats,’ and ’Wagons’!” ?

A. The neo-classical influence of pope and dryden
B. The clumsiness of shakespeare’s plots
C. The orientalist fantasies of coleridge
D. Wordsworth’s devotion to the ordinary and everyday

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Which of the following texts addresses class as a social and economic reality ?

A. William godwin’s inquiry concerning political justice
B. Percy bysshe shelley’s england in 1819
C. William godwin’s caleb williams
D. All of the above

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What word did writers in this period use to express quickness of mind, inventiveness,a knack for conceiving images and metaphors and for perceiving resemblances between things apparently unlike ?

A. Wit
B. Sprezzatura
C. Naturalism
D. Gusto

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A “classic” book is usually one that possesses what quality ?

A. It has universal appeal.
B. It can stand the test of time.
C. It makes connections.
D. All of the above.

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Which of the following best describes the doctrine of empiricism ?

A. All knowledge is derived from experience.
B. Human perceptions are constructed and reflect structures of political power.
C. The search for essential or ultimate principles of reality.
D. The sensory world is an illusion.

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John Dryden wrote “Absalom and Achitophel.” Who was Achitophel, historically speaking ?

A. King david’s son
B. A judge of israel
C. Bathsheba’s first husband
D. Absalom’s advisor

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Who did Dryden use Absalom to represent, allegorically, in his satire “Absalom and Achitophel” ?

A. The duke of monmouth
B. Charles ii
C. The earl of shaftesbury
D. Cromwell

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Which of the following was a typically Romantic means of achieving visionary states ?

A. Opium
B. Dreams
C. Childhood
D. A, band c

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Most neoclassical poets viewed the world in terms of a strictly ordered hierarchy. What was this hierarchy called ?

A. The way of the world
B. The foundational ladder
C. The order of angels
D. The great chain of being

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