英国文学史习题The Victorian AgeI.Blank filling1.In the 19th century English literature, a new literary trend ____________________________appeared after the romantic poetry.2.The greatest English realist of the 19th century was ___________________________, whopictures bourgeois civilization, and shows the misery and suffering of the common people. 3.The V ictorian Age in English literature was largely on age of prose, especially of the_________________.4.Robert Browning is a great experimenter in poetic art. He is best known for the technique of__________________.5.The most important poet of the V ictorian Age was _________________________. Next tohim were Robert Browning and his wife.6.The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature: the struggle of the_________________________ for their rights.7.The novel________________________ deals with the adventure of Mr. Pickwick, a retiredold merchant, who is the founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club.8.The novel “Oliver Twist” tells the story of a poor child nam ed_________________ who isborn in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.9.In “A T ale of Two Cities”, the two cities are _________ and ________ in the time ofrevolution.10.The subtitle of “V anity Fair” is __________________________. The write r’s intention wasnot to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.11.The main plot of “V anity Fair” centers on the story of two women: Amelia Sedley and___________________. Their characters are in sharp contrast.12.The Bronte sisters are Charlotte Bronte, _____________________ and Anne Bronte.13.Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece is _____________________________.14.Emily Bronte’s masterpiece is _____________________________.15.The author of “Mary Barton” is ________________________.16.The author of “ The R eturn of the Native” is _______________________.17.Chronologically the Victorian Period refers to _______________________.18.George Eliot produced three remarkable novels including “Adam Bede”, “The Mill on theFloss” and _____________________.19.In the novel “Adam Bede”, Adam falls in love with a village girlcalled__________________________ who is seduced and deserted by a squire.20.Hardy’s novels of character and environment, which are also called______________________________, are of great significance.21.Among Hardy’s novels, the best-known are ___________________________ and “Jude theObscure”.22.Hardy’s novel _________________________ talks about the life of a merchant who leavesthe big city and return to his home village.23.__________________________ is the representative among the writers of aestheticism anddecadence. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a typical decadent novel written by him.24.“In Memoriam” is a collection of 131 short poems intended as a lament for the death of hisfriend___________________________.25.It was while living in Italy that Robert Browning published his finest volume of poems__________________ .II.Multiple choice1.Although writing from different points of view and with different technique, writers in theVictorian Period shared one thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about________.A.the love story between the rich and the poorB.the techniques in writingC.the fate of the common peopleD.the future of their own country2.The author of the work “Dombey and Son” is _____.A. Charles DickensB. Henry JamesC. Robert BrowningD. Thackaray3. In the following figures, who is Dickens’s first child hero?A. FaginB. Mr. BrownlowC. Oliver TwistD. Bill Sikes4. As a love story, Wuthering Heights is one of the most moving: the passion between_______ proves the most intense, the most beautiful and at the same time the most horrible.A. Hareton and CathyB. Heathcliff and CatherineC. Hareton and CatherineD. Heathcliff and Cathy5. Which of the following statements about Emily Bronte is not true?A. She was famous for here Wuthering Heights.B. She wrote 193 poems.C. She lived a very short life.D. Her masterpiece is noted for its optimistic tone.6. The most important characteristic in Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson is ___________.A. mastering of languageB. excellent choice of wordsC. use of the dramatic monologueD. excellent metaphor7. In the Robert Browning’s works, which established his position as one of the great English poets?A. PaulineB. The Ring and the BookC. SordelloD. Dramatic Romances and Lyrics8. Which of the following poems is not by V ictorian poets?A. “Break, Break, Break”B. “My Last Duches”C. In MemoriamD. The Isles of Greece9. “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?…And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.” The above passage is most pr obably taken from___________.A. Great ExpectationsB. Wuthering HeightsC. Jane EyreD. Pride and Prejudice10. The sentences “And now he stared as here so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze, would bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish, they did not melt” are foundin ________.A. Wuthering HeightsB. Jane EyreC. Gulliver’s TravelsD. Pride and Prejudice11. The first two lines of Alfred Tennyson’s well-known poem “Break, Break, Break” read “Break, break, break, / On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!” the repeated word “break” suggests_______.A. joyB. fearC. fondnessD. hatred12. In the long poem “The Ring and the book”, the “book” is compared to ______.A. loveB. comprehensive knowledgeC. the hard truthD. the method of study13. Most of Thomas Hardy’s novels are set in Wessex _______.A. a crude region in EnglandB. A fictional primitive regionC. a remote rural areaD. Hardy’s hometown14. Middlemarch is considered to be George E liot’s greatest novel, owning to all the following reasons except ________A. it vividly depicts English country lifeB. it probes into perpetual philosophical thoughtsC. it provides a panoramic view of lifeD. it reveals women’s true feelings15. Tes s of the D’Urbervilles, one of Thomas Hardy’s best known novels, portrays man as __________.A. being hereditarily good or badB. being self-sufficientC. having no control over his own fateD. still retaining his own faith in a world confusion16.In the play “The Importance of B eing Earnest” by Wilde, the upper-class people is described as the following except_______.A. corruptB. snobbishC. hypocriticalD. ambitious17. The success of Jane Eyre is not only because of its sharp criticism of the existing society, but also due to its introduction to the English novel the first ______ heroine.A. workerB. peasantC. governessD. explorer18. Which of the following descriptions of Thomas Hardy is wrong?A. most of his novels are set in WessexB. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of the most representative of him as both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer.C. Among Hardy’s major works, Under the Greenwood Tree is the most cheerful and idyllic.D. From The Mayor of Casterbridge on, the tragic sense becomes the keynote of his novels.19. “Every day, every hour, brought to him one more little stroke of her nature, and to her one more of his”, the sentence is found in ___________.A. Middlemarch by George EliotB. Tess of the D’Urber villes by HardyC. Jane Eyre by Charlotte BronteD. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte20. In ______ Tennyson dealt with the theme of women’s rights and positions.A. The PrincessB. MemoriamC. Idylls of the KingD. Poems21. Which of the following be st describes the protagonist of Thomas Hardy’s “The Mayor of Casterbridge”?A. He is a man of self-esteem.B. He is a man of self-contempt.C. He is a man of self-confidence.D. He is a man of self-sufficiency.22. _________ not only continued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities, but finally came to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.A. George EliotB. Thomas HardyC.D. Lawrence D. Charles Dickens23. Robert Browning created the verse novel, transferring the thematic interest from mere narration of the story to revelation and study of characters’ inner world and brought to the Victorian Poetry____________.A. some psycho-analytical elementB. some romantic elementC. some realistic elementD. some classical element24. Dicken’s works are characterized by a mingling of __________ and pathos.A. metaphorB. passionC. satireD. humor25. Among the writings by George Eliot, _______ is her only novel on English politics.A. Felix Holt, the RadicalB. MiddlemarchC. Daniel DerondaD. Romola26. The poetic form which Browning attached to maturity and perfection is _________.A. dramatic monologueB. use of symbolC. use of ironic languageD. use of lyrics27. Among George Eliot’s seven novels, ________ is essentially an autobiographic account of her life.A. Felix Holt, the RadicalB. MiddlemarchC. Daniel DerondaD. The mill on the Floss28. The author of ______ makes clear in the novel that it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of social status, and it is cruel and destructive to break genuine, natural human passions.A. Jane EyreB. Wuthering HeightsC. Pride and PrejudiceD. Tess of the D’Urbervilles29. George Eliot holds that the individual life is determined basically by two major forces:A. the spiritual self and the physical selfB. the good and the evilC. the individual’s personality and the outer social circumstancesD. the divided self and the integrated self30. A typical feature of the English Victorian literature is that wriers became___________, exposing all kinds of social evils.A. didactic writersB. individual idealistsC. moral criticsD. religious advocators31. Thomas Hardy wrote novels of _______.A. psychoanalysisB. pure romanceC. character and environmentD. religious advocators32. The title of the Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses” reminds the reader of the following except ________.A. the Trojan WarB. HomerC. questD. Christ33. Tennyson’s poem, Idylls of the King, was based on _________.A. the Celtic legendsB. an Italian documentC. a Roman murder caseD. the Bible34. One of the typical features of Dickens’ novels is __________.A. complicated narrationB. exaggerated caricatureC. compressed syntaxD. streams of consciousness35. In style, Thomas Hardy is a traditionalist, though there are obvious traits of ______ in thematic matters.A. neo-classicismB. modernismC. romanticismD. utilitarianismIII. Error correction1.In the period of V ictorian Age, a new literary trend called preromanticism appeared, whichflourished in the forties and in the early fifties.2.The greatest English critical realist was Charles Dickinson.3.Both Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Gaskell were well-known poet.4.Heathcliff is a character in the novel “Emma”.5.In “Mary Barton”, Carson is an active Chartist.6.Opt imism and positivism are strongly reflected in Hardy’s writings.7.The subtitle of Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” is “a Novel without a Hero”.8.Oscar Wilde is the representative among the writers of aestheticism and critical realism.9.The greatest Chartis t poet was Thomas Cooper, who wrote a long poem “The revolt ofHindostan” in his imprisonment.10.The short poem “Break, Break, Break” was written by Shelly.IV. Exercises on Selected ReadingExercise 1The room in which the boys were fed was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end, out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at mealtimes; of which composition each boy had one porringer, and no more－except on festive occasions, and then he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing—the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again: and when they had performed this operation, (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls) they would sit staring at the copper with such eager eyes as is they could devour the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves meanwhile in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months; at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn’t been used to that sort of thing, (for his father had kept a small cook’s shop)hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he should some night eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye, and they implic itly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, andask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.The evening arrived; the boys took their places; the master in his cook’s uniform stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out, and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared, and the boys whispered to each other and winked at Oliver, while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. He rose from the table, and advancing, basin and spoon in hand, to the master, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity －“Pleased, Sir, I want some more.”The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.“What!” said the master at length, in a faint voice.“Please sir,” replied Oliver, “I want some more.”The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle; p inioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.QUESTIONS:1.This passage is taken from a well-known novel entitled _____________________.2.The writer of the novel is ____________________.3.What can you see from this passage?Exercise 2MRS W ARREN: (piteously) Oh, my darling, how can you be so hard on me? Have I no rights over you as your mother?VIVIE: Are you my mother?MRS WARREN: (appalled) Am I your mother! Oh, Vivie!VIVIE: Then where are our relatives? my father? our family friends? Y ou claim the rights of a mother: the right to call me fool and child; to speak to me as no woman in authority over me at college dare speak to me; to dictate my way of life; and to force on me the acquaintance of a brute whom anyone can see to be the most vicious sort of London man about town. Before I give myself the trouble to resist such claims, I may as well find out the whether they have any real existence.MRS WARREN: (distracted, throwing herself on her knees) Oh no, no. Stop, stop. I am your mother: I s wear it. Oh, you can’t mean to turn on me－my own child! It’s not natural. Y ou believe me, don’t you? Say you believe me.VIVIE: Who was my father?MRS WARREN: Y ou don’t know what you’re asking. I can’t tell you.VIVIE: (determinedly) Oh yes you can, if you like. I have a right to know; and you know very well that I have that right. Y ou can refuse to tell me, if you please; but if you do, will see the last of me tomorrow morning.MRS WARREN: Oh, it’s too horrible to hear you talk like that. Y ou wouldn’t－you couldn’t leave me.VIVIE: (ruthlessly) Y e s, without a moment’s hesitation, if you trifle with me about this. (Shivering with disgust) How can I feel sure that I may not have the contaminated blood of that brutal waster in my veins?MRS WARREN: NO, no. On my oath it’s not he, nor any of the rest that you have ever met. I’m certain of that, at least.VIvie’s eyes fasten sternly on her mother as the significance of this flashed on her.QUESTIONS:1.This passage is taken from a play entitled________________ .2.Who is the writer of this play?3.Do you kno w what is Mrs. Warren’s profession?4.What is the theme of the play?V. Questions and Answers1. Comment on Tess of the D’ Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.2. Make comments on Samuel Butler’s novels.。
