Explore topic-wise MCQs in English Literature .

This section includes 95 Mcqs, each offering curated multiple-choice questions to sharpen your English Literature knowledge and support exam preparation. Choose a topic below to get started.

51.

The “Reign of Terror” refers to_________________?

A. France’s war with a foreign nation
B. The mass execution of enemies of the revolution
C. Napoleon’s rise to power
D. The death of the king of France
Answer» C. Napoleon’s rise to power
52.

The primary subject of “Ode to Psyche” is ___________________?

A. The possibility of sudden death
B. The expansion of consciousness
C. The relationship between art and humanity
D. The death of Byron
Answer» C. The relationship between art and humanity
53.

The poem “London” can be best understood as ______________?

A. A celebration of the city’s beauty
B. A protest against social inequality
C. An examination of the city’s past
D. An attack on William Wordsworth
Answer» C. An examination of the city’s past
54.

The main thematic focus of “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is ____________________?

A. The nature of death
B. The French Revolution
C. The relationship between truth and beauty
D. The author’s childhood experience
Answer» D. The author’s childhood experience
55.

The lines “The loveliest and the lastThe bloom, whose petals nipped before they blewDied on the promise of the fruit” are from a poem honoring________________?

A. Percy Shelley
B. John Keats
C. Lord Byron
D. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Answer» C. Lord Byron
56.

The line “It is an honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind” appears in which essay ?

A. “A Defense of Poetry”
B. “The Rights of Man”
C. “Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads”
D. “An Essay on Dramatic Poetry”
Answer» D. “An Essay on Dramatic Poetry”
57.

The line “fools are my theme, let satire be my song” demonstrates a sentiment that would likely appear in a poem by_________________?

A. William Wordsworth
B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C. William Blake
D. Lord Byron
Answer» E.
58.

The general tone and attitude of Byron’s “Don Juan” would be best described as ______________?

A. Dramatic and dark
B. Ironic and satirical
C. Strange and haunting
D. Humorless and stark
Answer» C. Strange and haunting
59.

The French Revolution had a tremendous impact on which of the following aspects of British life ?

A. Politics
B. Literature
C. Relations with France
D. All of the above
Answer» E.
60.

The final line of “We Are Seven” is: “And said, ‘Nay’ we are seven.” This line suggests that________________?

A. The little girl refuses to cast the dead out of her life.
B. The little girl is insane or delusional
C. The little girl’s siblings have not died
D. The little girl herself is dead
Answer» B. The little girl is insane or delusional
61.

The dedication of Byron’s “Don Juan” can be best described as ________________?

A. Sincere and heartfelt
B. Mocking and satirical
C. Mournful and dark
D. Polemic and dry
Answer» C. Mournful and dark
62.

Referring to poets as “unacknowledged legislators of the world” suggests that_____________?

A. Most Romantic poets were politicians
B. Poets have no actual effect upon the world
C. Poets actually help the world grow and develop
D. Hardly anyone actually reads Romantic poetry
Answer» D. Hardly anyone actually reads Romantic poetry
63.

Percy Shelley’s poem “Mont Blanc” presents nature as ________________?

A. A powerful, sublime force
B. A peaceful force
C. Depressing and miserable
D. Controlled by gods
Answer» B. A peaceful force
64.

Percy Shelley can be understood as a poet with _________________?

A. No sense of reality
B. A desire to make the world into a better place
C. A dark and twisted outlook on the world
D. A strong dislike of women
Answer» C. A dark and twisted outlook on the world
65.

Paul O’Brien contends that _____________make(s) Shelley a “radical.”?

A. Shelley’s political beliefs
B. Shelley’s sexuality
C. Shelley’s love of Shakespeare
D. Shelley’s relationship with Byron
Answer» B. Shelley’s sexuality
66.

Paul O’Brien’s essay on Shelley suggests that Shelley was______________?

A. Not an atheist
B. In love with Lord Byron
C. Suicidal
D. Fiercely anti-war
Answer» E.
67.

Paul O’Brien argues that Shelley did not lose his passion for the French Revolution, but that _____________did?

A. Lord Byron and John Clare
B. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C. John Keats and William Blake
D. Lord Byron and William Blake
Answer» C. John Keats and William Blake
68.

One of the central themes of Wordsworth’s “Peter Bell” is _________________?

A. How nature can render someone good
B. How nature can corrupt someone
C. Eternal youth
D. A dark voyage into madness
Answer» B. How nature can corrupt someone
69.

“Ode to a Nightingale” focuses on ______________?

A. How pleasures are fleeting and life cannot continue forever
B. The fall of man into sin
C. The futility of artistic creation
D. The unfortunate conclusion of the French Revolution
Answer» B. The fall of man into sin
70.

Napoleon’s decision to__________________can be understood as representative of the French Revolutionary spirit because this decision served to radically reposition France in contemporary European political affairs ?

A. Engage in the Napoleonic Wars
B. Change all aspects of French law
C. Involve himself directly in affairs in the United States
D. Offer landmark political writings calling for peace with other European nations
Answer» B. Change all aspects of French law
71.

Many romantic poets regarded the natural world with a feeling of ________________?

A. Awe and fascination
B. Disinterest and disregard
C. Resentment and disrespect
D. Fear and horror
Answer» B. Disinterest and disregard
72.

“Lines Written a few Miles above Tintern Abbey” explores ________________?

A. The way in which one’s psychological state changes over time
B. The failures of Romanticism
C. The beauty of the natural world
D. Coleridge’s addiction to drugs
Answer» B. The failures of Romanticism
73.

Keats was most famous for__________________?

A. His odes
B. His wild lifestyle
C. His popularity with readers
D. His extensive writings
Answer» B. His wild lifestyle
74.

John Keats would probably NOT have written a poem celebrating _______________?

A. The beauty of the natural world
B. The pains of love
C. Political and philosophical conservatism
D. The nature of artistic creation
Answer» D. The nature of artistic creation
75.

John Keats died from________________?

A. Influenza
B. Tuberculosis
C. Fever
D. Suicide
Answer» C. Fever
76.

In “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” who is the “he” referred to in the lines “A sadder and a wiser manHe rose the morrow morn.” ?

A. Life-in-Death
B. The Ancient Mariner
C. The Wedding Guest
D. The ship’s captain
Answer» D. The ship’s captain
77.

In “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” what kind of animal does the Mariner kill ?

A. A hawk
B. A nightingale
C. A dove
D. An albatross
Answer» E.
78.

In “Of Poetry in General,”William Hazlitt contends that good poetry comes from ____________?

A. The intellect
B. The author’s personal pain
C. Strong feeling
D. Rewriting Homer
Answer» D. Rewriting Homer
79.

In “Mont Blanc,” Shelley likens the power of the mountain to the power of human imagination in order to __________________?

A. Demonstrate how the human imagination is fragile
B. Demonstrate how the human mind comprehends and perceives truth
C. Demonstrate the power of the French Revolution on the British Romantic consciousness
D. Demonstrate the intrinsic connection between imagination and death
Answer» C. Demonstrate the power of the French Revolution on the British Romantic consciousness
80.

In her essay “Wordsworth Balladry: Real Men Wanted,” Elizabeth Fey argues that the Romantics were interested in the medieval focus upon _______________?

A. Courtly love and modern-seeming emotion
B. Violence
C. Nature
D. Death and disease
Answer» B. Violence
81.

In “A Defense of Poetry,” Percy Shelley argues that humans have an impulse to ____________________?

A. Write stories
B. Resist understanding poetry
C. Reproduce rhythm and order
D. Strive to express love
Answer» D. Strive to express love
82.

Elizabeth Fey refers to which poet as “a sort of poet-king Arthur” ?

A. William Wordsworth
B. William Blake
C. Lord Byron
D. Percy Shelley
Answer» B. William Blake
83.

Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the French Revolution” ______________?

A. Celebrates the French Revolution
B. Encourages the United States to Support the French Revolution
C. Attacks the ideals of the French Revolution
D. Champions Napoleon’s political vision
Answer» D. Champions Napoleon’s political vision
84.

During the 19th century, the term “middle class” described people who were______________?

A. Workers
B. Aristocrats
C. Between workers and aristocrats
D. Land owners only
Answer» D. Land owners only
85.

Duncan Wu rejects the assertion that Wordsworth’s Lucy poems were primarily about ______________?

A. Death
B. Perception
C. Exhaustion
D. Love
Answer» E.
86.

Duncan Wu discusses the presentation of “spots of time” in the poetry of______________?

A. William Wordsworth
B. William Blake
C. Percy Shelley
D. Lord Byron
Answer» B. William Blake
87.

Dr. Samuel Gladden, in his essay “Shelley’s Agenda Writ Large: Reconsidering Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant ,” argues that Shelley’s “Oedipus- Tyrannus” is important because a_______________?

A. Shelley himself dismissed the poem
B. The poem was incomplete
C. Shelley recognizes the power of sexual transgression in it
D. Shelley writes about Byron’s sexuality in it
Answer» E.
88.

Dr. Samuel Gladden believes Shelley’s agenda was to _____________?

A. Revolutionize France
B. Expose the nature of reality
C. Expose how intimate relationships inform political realities
D. Change sexual morals
Answer» D. Change sexual morals
89.

“Don Juan” and “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” are broken into sections called______________?

A. Cantos
B. Stanzas
C. Lines
D. Chapters
Answer» B. Stanzas
90.

Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner could be said to be suffering from an overwhelming feeling of ___________?

A. Guilt
B. Disbelief
C. Hatred
D. Love
Answer» B. Disbelief
91.

According to the essay “A Defense of Poetry,” which of the following is one of the two “classes of mental action” ?

A. Reason
B. Fear
C. Illogic
D. Indifference
Answer» B. Fear
92.

According to Laura Smith, that which “affect[s] the human mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; calculated to inspire awe, deep reverence, or loft emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur” is known as the______________?

A. Beautiful
B. Sublime
C. Terrifying
D. Romantic
Answer» C. Terrifying
93.

A tortured, dark-spirited, wry, and intellectual protagonist would most likely be found in a poem by______________?

A. William Blake
B. Lord Byron
C. William Wordsworth
D. John Keats
Answer» C. William Wordsworth
94.

A Romantic poet would be LEAST likely to celebrate __________________?

A. The imagination
B. Love
C. The natural world
D. Rationality
Answer» E.
95.

A neoclassical poet would be most likely to compose a poem celebrating which of the following ideals ?

A. Passionate love
B. Emotional restraint
C. Revolution against tyranny
D. Communion with the natural world
Answer» C. Revolution against tyranny