100 Selected Questions on English Literature1.The most significant idea of the Renaissance is（）.A. humanismB. realismC. naturalismD. skepticism2.Shakespeare’s tragedies include all the following except（）.A. Hamlet and King LearB. Antony and Cleopatra and MacbethC. Julius Caesar and OthelloD. The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream3. The statement “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability”opens one of well-known essays byA. Francis BaconB. Samuel JohnsonC. Alexander PopeD. Jonathan Swift4.In Hardy’s Wessex novels, there is an apparent（）touch in his description of the simple though primitive rural life.A. nostalgicB. humorousC. romanticD. ironic5.Backbite, Sneerwell, and Lady Teazle are characters in the play The School for Scandal by（）.A. Christopher MarloweB. Ben JonsonC. Richard Brinsley SheridanD. George Bernard Shaw6.Of all the 18th century novelists Henry Fielding was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a“（）in prose,”th e first to give the modern novel its structure and style.A. tragic epicB. comic epicC. romanceD. lyric epic7.In his poem “Tyger, Tyger,”William Blake expresses his perception of the“fearful symmetry”of the big cat. The phrase“fearful symmetry”sug gests（）.A. the tiger’s two eyes which are dazzlingly bright and symmetrically setB. the poet’s fear of the predatorC. the analogy of the hammer and the anvilD. the harmony of the two opposite aspects of God’s creation8. “What is his name?”“Bingley.”“Is he married or single?”“Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousanda year. What a fine thing for our girls!”The above dialogue must be taken from（）.A. Jane Austen’s Pride and PrejudiceB. Em ily Bronte’s Wuthering HeightsC. John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte SagaD. George Eliot’s Middlemarch9.The short story“Araby”is one of the stories in James Joyce’s collection（）.A. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManB. UlyssesC. Finnegans WakeD. Dubliners10.William Wordsworth, a romantic poet, advocated all the following except （）.A. the using of everyday language spoken by the common peopleB. the expression of the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelingsC. the humble and rustic life as subject matterD. elegant wording and inflated figures of speech11. Here are two lines taken from The Merchant of Venice:“Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew/Thou mak’st thy knife keen.”What kind of figurative device is used in the above lines? （）A. Simile.B. Metonymy.C. Pun.D. Synecdoche.12. “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”is an epigrammatic line by （）.A. J. KeatsB. W. BlakeC. W. WordsworthD. P. B. Shelley13. The poems such as“The Chimney Sweeper”are found in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience byA. William WordsworthB. William BlakeC. John KeatsD. Lord Gordon Byron14.John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is often regarded as a typical example of （）.A. allegoryB. romanceC. epic in proseD. fable15.Alexander Pope strongly advocated neoclassicism, emphasizing that literary works should be judged by（）rules of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion, good taste and decorum.A. classicalB. romanticC. sentimentalD. allegorical16.In his essay“Of Studies,”Bacon said:“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and（）.”A. skimmedB. perfectedC. imitatedD. digested17.“For I have known them all already, known them all—/Have known the evenings,mornin gs, afternoons,/I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”The above lines are taken from（）.A. Wordsworth’s “The Solitary Reaper”B. Eliot’s“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”C. Coleridge’s“Kubla Khan”D. Yeats’s“The Lake Isle of Innisfree”18.(The)（）was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century.A. RomanticismB. HumanismC. EnlightenmentD. Sentimentalism19.A typical Forsyte, according to John Galsworthy, is a man with a strong sense of （）, who never pays any attention to human feelings.A. moralityB. justiceC. propertyD. humor20.The typical feature of Robert Browning’s poetry is the （）.A. bitter satireB. larger-than-life caricatureC. Latinized dictionD. dramatic monologue21. G eorge Bernard Shaw’s play, Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a grotesquely realistic exposure of the（）.A. slum landlordismB. political corruption in EnglandC. economic oppression of womenD. religious corruption in England22. The story starting with th e marriage of Paul’s parents Walter Morel and Mrs. Morel must beA. Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’UrbervillesB. D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and LoversC. George Eliot’s MiddlemarchD. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre23. She smiled, no doubt, when’ver I passed her…/ …. This grew, I gave commands, Then all simles stopped together.’The above quoted lines imply that she________.A. obeyed his order and sopped smiling at everybody, including the dukeB. obeyed his order and stopped smiling at anybody except the dukeC. refused to obey and the order and never smiled againD. was murdered at the order of the duke24. The true subject of John Donne’s poem, “The sun Rising,” is to _________.A. attack the sun as an unruly servantB. give compliments to the mistress and her power of beautyC. criticicize the sun’s intrusion into the lover’s private lifeD. lecture the sun on where true royalty and riches lie25. Which of the following statements best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18?A. The speaker meditates on man’s moralityB. The speaker satirizes human vanityC. The speaker eulogizes the power of artistic creationD. The speaker tells one of his dream visions.26. Among the great writers of the modern period, ____might be the greatest in radical experimentation of technical innovations in novel writing.A. Joseph ConradB. D.H, LawrenceC. E.M, ForsterD. James Joyce27. “For a week after the commission of the impious and profane offence of asking for more, Oliver remained a close prisoner in the dark and solitary room ...”(Dickens, Oliver Twist) What did Oliver ask for?A. More time to play.B. More food to eat.C. More book to read.D. More money to spend.28. Mrs. Warren’s Profession is one of George Bernard Shaw’s plays. What is Mrs. Warren’s profession then ?A. Real estate.B. Prostitution.C. House-keeping.D. Farming.29. The statement “A demanding mother turns away from her husband and g ives all her affection to her sons” sums up the main plot of D. H. Lawrence′s .A. Lady Chatterley’s LoverB. Women in loveC. Sons and LoversD. The Plumed Serpent30. “Drive my dead thought over the universeLike withe red leaves to quicken a new birth.”(Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”)What rhetorical device does the poet use in the quoted lines?A. Synecdoche.B. Metaphor.C. Simile.D. Onomatopoeia.31. Crusoe is the hero in The life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Grusoe, of York, Mariner (also known as Robinson Crusoe)by .A. Jonathan SwiftB. Daniel DefoeC. George EliotD. D.H. Lawrence32.“Beauty is truth, truth beauty” is an epigrammatic line by .A. John KeatsB. William BlakeC. William WordsworthD. Percy Bysshe Shelley33. Christopher Marlow’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a (n) .A. pastoral lyricB. elegyC. eulogyD. epic34. Which of the following is NOT regarded as one of the characteristics of Renaissance humanism?A. Cultivation of the art of this world and this life.B. Tolerance of human foibles.C. Search for the genuine flavor of ancient culture.D. Glorification of religious faith.35.. “In dream vision Arthur witnessed the loveliness of Gloriana, and upon awaking resolves to seek her.” The two literary figures Arthur and Gloriana are form .A. Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie QueeneB. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and JulietC. Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His love”D. John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”36. Which of the following best describes t he nature of Thomas Hardy’s later works?A. Sentimentalism.B. Tragic sense.C. Surrealism.D. Comic sense.37.In which of the following works can you find the proper names “Lilliput,” “Brobdingnag,” “Houyhnhnm,” and “Yahoo”?A. James Joyce’s Ulsses.B. Charles Dickens’s Bleak House.C. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.D. D. H. Lawrence’s Women in love.38. William Wordsworth, a romantic poet, advocated all of the following except .A. normal contemporary speech patternsB. humble and rustic life as subject matterC. elegant wording and inflated figures of speechD. intensely subjective feeling toward individual experience39. In Samuel Taylor Coleridge′s “Kubla Khan,” “A sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice” .A. refers to the palace where Kubla Khan once livedB. vividly describes a building of poor qualityC．is the gift given to a beautiful girl called AbyssinianD. symbolizes the reconciliation of the conscious and the unconscious40. The Glorious Revolution in ________ meant three things: the supremacy of parliament, the beginning of modern England, and the final triumph of the principle of political liberty.A. 1640B. 1688C. 1660D. 164941. After ________’s death, monarch was again restored (1660). It was called the period of Restoration.A. CromwellB. CharlesC. MiltonD. James42. The essays and stories of Addison and Steels devoted not only to social problems, but also to private life and ________.A. businessB. public clubsC. gossipsD. adventures43. The Puritans believed in _________ of life.A. extravaganceB. simplicityC. humblenessD. Arrogance44. Fielding’s work unfolds a spread _________ of life in a ll sections of English society.A. pictureB. imageC. panoramaD. painting45. No sooner were the people in control of the government than they divided into hostile parties: the liberal Whigs, and the conservative_________ .A. RepublicansB. DemocratsC. LaborersD. Tories46. Pope was a man of extraordinary wit, extensive ________, and his contemporaries considered him as the highest authority in matters of literary art.A. sightB. adventureC. learningD. thinking47. The philosophy of the enlighteners, though ________ and materialistic in its essence, did not exclude senses, or sentiments, as a means of perception and learning.A. RomanticB. rationalC. realisticD. metaphysical48. The mysterious element plays an enormous role in the Gothic novel; it is soreplete with bloodcurdling scenes and unnatural feelings that it is just called “a novel of ________”.A. happyB. loveC. SentimentalistD. Horror49. Along with the depiction of morals and manners and social mode of life the writers of the Enlightenment began to display an interest in the ________ life of an individual.A. exteriorB. urbanC. poorD. innermost50 Lyrical Ballads is composed by William Wordsworth in collaboration with _________ .A. ColeridgeB. SoutheyC. BlakeD. Byron51. After the Industrial revolution, __________ became the “workshop of the world”.A. BritainB. FranceC. GermanyD. Northern Europe52. The quotation “I wandered lonely as a cloud, / That floats on high o’er vales and hills, / When all at once I saw a crowd , / a host , of golden daffodils ;” is composed by __________.A. ShakespeareB. WordsworthC. SpenserD. Keats53. “If Winter comes , can __________ be far behind ?”.A. AutumnB. West windC. SummerD. Spring54. “Beauty is _________ , truth beauty ”.A. realityB. loveC. truthD. ability55. Romanticism as a literary movement came into being in England in the later half of the _________ century.A. 10B. 16C. 18D. 1956. The Romantic Age came to an end in 1832 when the last Romantic writer __________ died .A. Jane AustenB. Walter ScottC. William WordsworthD. De Quincy57. Which poet belongs to the Lakers ? ___________A. ColeridgeB. KeatsC. ByronD. Shelley58. Choose the one from the four immortal odes which is not written by Keats . __________A. Ode to the West WindB. Ode to a NightingaleC. Ode to AutumnD. Ode on a Grecian Urn59. Which work is based on ancient Greek mythology ? __________A. Paradise LostB. Jane EyreC. IvanhoeD. Prometheus Unbound60. In Renaissance, the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to do the following EXCEPT ______.A. getting rid of those old feudalist ideasB. getting control of the parliament and governmentC. introducing new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisieD. recovering the purity of the early church, from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church2. The Petrarchan sonnet was first introduced into England by ______.A. SurreyB. WyattC. SidneyD. Shakespeare61. As the best of Shakespeare's final romances,______ is a typical example of his pessimistic view towards human life and society in his late years.A. The TempestB. The Winter's TaleC. CymbelineD. The Rape of Lucrece62. John Milton's greatest poetical work ______ is the only generally acknowledged epic in English literarure since Beowulf.A. AreopagiticaB. Paradise LostC. LycidasD. Samson Agonistes63. The British bourgeois or middle class believed in the following notions EXCEPT ______.A. self - esteemB. self - relianceC. self - restraintD. hard work64. “Graveyard School”writers are the following senti mentalists EXCEPT ______.A. James ThomsonB. William CollinsC. William CowperD. Thomas Jackson65. The best model of satire in English literary history is Jonathan Swift's ______.A. A Modest ProposalB. A Tale of a TubC. Gulliver's TravelsD. The Battle of the Books66. As a representative of the Enlightenment,¬¬¬______ was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England.A. John BunyanB. Daniel DefoeC. Alexander PopeD. Jonathan Swift67. For his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel,______ has been regarded by some as “Father of the English Novel”.A. Daniel DefoeB. Henry FieldingC. Jonathan SwiftD. Samuel Richardson68. Which of the following descriptions of Gothic Novels is NOT correct?A. It predominated in the early eighteenth century.B. It was one phase of the Romantic movement.C. Its principal elements are violence, horror and the supernatural.D. Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho and Frankenstein are typical Gothic romance.69. “Byronic hero”is a figure of the following traits EXCEPT ______.A.being proudB. being of humble originC.being rebelliousD. being mysterious70. Robert Browning created ______ by adopting the novelistic presentation of characters.A. the verse novelB. the blank verseC. the heroic coupletD. the dramatic poetry71. Charles Dickens' novel ______ is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the underworld in the nineteenth- century London.A. The Pickwick PaperB. Oliver TwistC. David CopperfieldD. Nicholas Nickleby72. Charlotte Bronte's works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousness towards ______, about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life.A. self - relianceB. self - realizationC. self - esteemD. self - consciousness73. The symbolic meaning of “Book” in Robert Browning's long poem The Ring and the Book is ______.A. the common senseB. the hard truthC. the comprehensive knowledgeD. the dead truth74. Thomas Hardy's pessimistic view of life predominated most of his later works and earns him a reputation as a ______ writer.A. realisticB. naturalisticC. romanticD. stylistic75. After the First World War, there appeared the following literary trends of modernism EXCEPT ______.A. expressionismB. surrealismC. stream of consciousnessD. black humor76. The masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century are the three trilogies of ______.A. Galsworthy's Forsyte novelsB. Hardy' s Wessex novelsC. Greene's Catholic novelsD. Woolf's stream-of-consciousness novels77. In the mid - 1950s and early 1960s, there appeared “______” who demonstrated a particular disillusion over the depressing situation in Britain and launched a bitter protest. against the outmoded social and political values in their society.A. The Beat GenerationB. The Lost GenerationC. The Angry Young MenD. Black Mountain Poets78. The following are English stream-of-consciousness novels EXCEPT ______.A.PilgrimageB. UlyssesC.Mrs.DallowayD. A Passage to Inida79. The leader of the Irish National Theater Movement in the early 20th centurywas ______.A. W.B.Yeats B. Lady GregoryC. J.M.SyngeD. John Galworthy80. T.S.Eliot's most popular verse play is ______.A. Murder in the CathedralB. The Cocktail PartyC. The Family ReunionD. The Waste Land81._______ is regarded as “worshipper of nature.”A. ColeridgeB. WordsworthC. T.S.EliotD. Robert Browning82.Marlowe’s play Dr.Faustus is based on _______ of a magician aspiring for knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the devil.A. the ScandinavianB. the GermanC. the ancient EnglishD. the French83.Who defined a good style as “proper words in proper places?”A. Jonathan SwiftB. Charles DickensC. Edmund SpencerD. George Bernard Shaw84._______ is central to Blake’s concern in the Sogns of Innocence and Songs of Experience?A. innocence and experienceB. the poorC. societyD. childhood85. As a novelist _______ wrote within a very narrow sphere, the provincial life of the late 1818-century England.A. Jonathan SwiftB. Jane AustenC. Thomas HardyD. Henry Fielding86. ________ employed the heroic couplet with true ease and charm for the first time in thehistory of English Literature.A. Geoffrey ChaucerB. George Gordon ByronC. Edmund SpenderD. Robert Browning87. Which of the following is William Shakespeare’s history play?A. MacbethB. Henry IVC. Romeo and JulietD. King Lear88. For his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel, ________ has beenregarded as “Father of the English Novel”.A. Henry FieldingB. Daniel DefoeC. John BunyanD. James Joyce89. Jane Austen wrote within a very narrow sphere. The subject matter, the social setting, and plots are all restricted to the provincial life of the ________.A. late 19th -centuryB. 17th -centuryC. 20th -centuryD. late 18th –century90.The most significant idea of the Renaissance is（）.A. humanismB. realismC. naturalismD. skepticism91.Shakespeare’s tragedies include all the following except（）.A. Hamlet and King LearB. Antony and Cleopatra and MacbethC. Julius Caesar and OthelloD. The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream92.The statement “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability”opens one of well-known essays by（）.A. Francis BaconB. Samuel JohnsonC. Alexander PopeD. Jonathan Swift93. In Hardy’s Wessex novels, t here is an apparent（）touch in his description of the simple though primitive rural life.A. nostalgicB. humorousC. romanticD. ironic94. Backbite, Sneerwell, and Lady Teazle are characters in the play The School for Scandal by （）.A. Christopher MarloweB. Ben JonsonC. Richard Brinsley SheridanD. George Bernard Shaw95.Of all the 18th century novelists Henry Fielding was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a“（）in prose,”the first to give the modern novel its structure and style.A. tragic epicB. comic epicC. romanceD. lyric epic96. In his poem “Tyger, Tyger,”William Blake expresses his perception of the“fearful symmetry”of the big cat. The phrase“fearful symmetry”suggests（）.A. the tiger’s two eyes which are dazzlingly bright and symmetrically setB. the poet’s fear of the predatorC. the analogy of the hammer and the anvilD. the harmony of the two opposite aspects of God’s creation97. Hawthorne’s view of man and human history originates, to a great extent in _______.A. PuritanismB. TranscendentalismC. his childhoodD. his unhappy marriage98. As _______ saw it, poetry could play a vital part in the process of creating a new nation.A. EmersonB. HawthorneC. WhitmanD. Emily Dickinson99. 1．The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical eventsEXCEPT_________.A．the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek cultureB．the vast expansion of British colonies in North AmericaC．the new discoveries in geography and astrologyD．the religious reformation and the economic expansion100. All of the following works are known as Hardy’s “novels of character and environment”EXCETP_______.A．The Return of the Native B．Tess of the D’UrbervillesC．Jude the Obscure D．Far from the Madding CrowdTrue or false1. Donne is mostly famous for his popular use of conceit.( )2. Paradise Lost tells how Adam rebelled against God and how Satan and Eve were driven out of Eden.( )3. Bunyan’s most important work is The Pilgrim’s Progress, written in the old-fashioned, medieval form of allegory and dream.( )4. The story of Robinson Crusoe is real enough to have come straight from a sailor’s logbook.( )5. Gulliver’s Adventures begins with Lilliputians, who are so small that Gulliver is a pigmy among them.( )6. The Spectator and The Tatler by Steele and Addison are the first important recognitions by literature of the special interests of women readers.( )7. Fielding’s first novel, Joseph Andrews, war inspired by the success of Defoe’s novel Pamela.( )8. The author of the famous Elegy is the most scholarly and well-balanced of all the early romantic poets.( )9. Of all the romantic poets of the 18th century, Blake is the most independent and the most original.( )10. The Tiger as an excellent short poem is not composed by Blake .( )。
