Interactive Literature MCQs

Q1. How is the spirit of Shakespeare's age described?

Q2. What event marks the opening of the 'golden age' of Elizabethan literature in 1579?

Q3. How is the poetry of the first half of the Queen's reign characterized before Spenser?

Q4. Where is the best poetry of this early period to be found?

Q5. What was 'A Myrroure for Magistrates' designed to be?

Q6. Which specific poem by Sackville is noted as the finest single poem written in England between Chaucer and Spenser?

Q7. What is George Gascoigne's 'The Steele Glas' (1576) known for?

Q8. Who is considered the greatest non-dramatic poet of the Shakespearean age?

Q9. Where did Spenser receive his university education?

Q10. With whose nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, did Spenser form an intimate friendship?

Q1. Where did Spenser pass the remainder of his life from 1580 onward, which he viewed as a miserable exile?

Q2. What tragic event happened to Spenser in October 1598?

Q3. Where is Spenser's 'Shepheardes Calender' (1579) categorized stylistically?

Q4. How is the 'Shepheardes Calender' divided?

Q5. What issues does Spenser discuss in the 'Shepheardes Calender' under the guise of pastoral imagery?

Q6. Who is the subject of Spenser's elegy 'Astrophel'?

Q7. What are Spenser's 'Amoretti'?

Q8. Which poem, inspired by his marriage, is considered by common consent the noblest wedding hymn in the language?

Q9. How many books did Spenser project to write for 'The Faery Queene'?

Q10. How many books of 'The Faery Queene' were actually published during Spenser's lifetime?

Q1. To whom did Spenser explain the underlying scheme of The Faery Queene in a prefatory letter?

Q2. Who is the central figure in The Faery Queene, chosen because he was the hero of the greatest British legend-cycle of chivalry?

Q3. How is the appearance of Prince Arthur in each story utilized by Spenser?

Q4. Externally considered, what is The Faery Queene compounded of?

Q5. Unlike his Italian master Ariosto who wrote only to amuse, what is Spenser's Faery Queene inspired by?

Q6. What do the twelve knights-errant represent in the ethical allegory of the poem?

Q7. What is Prince Arthur the incarnation of in the allegory?

Q8. In Book 1, what virtue does the Knight of the Red Cross represent?

Q9. Which knight represents Temperance in Book 2?

Q10. Who represents Chastity in the third book of The Faery Queene?

Q1. Who represents Justice in the fifth book of The Faery Queene?

Q2. Involved with the ethical allegory, what other kind of allegory enters into Spenser's plan?

Q3. In Book 1, as a general allegory, what does the rescue of Lady Una's parents by the Red Cross Knight represent?

Q4. Who does Spenser identify 'True Religion' with in his historical allegory?

Q5. Who are represented as the foes of True Religion in Spenser's historical allegory?

Q6. Why might some modern readers find the allegory of The Faery Queene detracts from the human interest?

Q7. What is an obvious defect of The Faery Queene mentioned in the text?

Q8. Despite its defects, what is a very striking merit of Spenser's work?

Q9. Because of the quality of pure essential poetry found in his work, what title has been given to Spenser?

Q10. Spenser's work represents a combination of the spirit of the Renaissance with the spirit of what?

Q1. Was the language used in The Faery Queene the actual English spoken in Spenser's day?

Q2. What is the name of the nine-line stanza invented by Spenser for his epic poem?

Q3. What is the rhyme scheme of the Spenserian stanza?

Q4. What is the last line of the Spenserian stanza called?

Q5. From what existing stanza did Spenser probably evolve the Spenserian stanza?

Q6. Following Tottel's Miscellany, many collections of similar character appeared. What is listed as the most famous of all of them?

Q7. What did these collections (like England's Helicon) help preserve for us?

Q8. In what year was England's Helicon published?

Q9. What kind of books were also popular alongside these poetry collections?

Q10. Besides being a great poet, what other trait made Spenser completely representative of his epoch?

Q1. Which Italian poetic form, introduced by Wyatt and Surrey, established itself and was used by Spenser, Shakespeare, and others?

Q2. What is the Italian plan of writing sonnets that became popular?

Q3. Who is the author of the sonnet sequence 'Astrophel and Stella'?

Q4. Which class of poetry from this era is historically significant for expressing powerful patriotic feeling?

Q5. Who wrote the enormous poetical description of England in thirty books called 'Polyolbion'?

Q6. Drayton's 'Polyolbion' was referred to by the author himself as what?

Q7. What defines the Jacobean division of the Age of Shakespeare as a period of decline?

Q8. Who began a new kind of poetry characterized by harsh metres and 'conceits' during the time of James I?

Q9. What was John Donne's profession besides being a poet?

Q10. John Donne's historical importance lies in initiating what school of poetry?

Q1. Based on the text on page 58, what is provided on pages 76-8 of the book?

Q2. The strained and whimsical images and turns of speech used by Donne are called what?

Q3. How is the metre of John Donne's poetry described?

Q4. Despite the harsh metres and conceits, what characterized all of Donne's writings?

Q5. True or False: John Donne's work belongs essentially to the time of Queen Elizabeth.

Q1. What term describes the quarter-century following the production of Gorboduc in English drama?

Q2. What ambition did some scholars and humanists like Sir Philip Sidney cherish during this period?

Q3. According to these humanists, what was the only sure way to a really artistic drama?

Q4. What did the miscellaneous unscholarly public care much about in their plays?

Q5. How did the writers who catered to this unscholarly public respond to the Senecan conventions?

Q6. What were these new, crude dramatic experiments a natural elaboration of?

Q7. Between which two groups was there a temporary conflict in the dramatic world?

Q8. In the end, which side triumphed in this conflict of dramatic styles?

Q9. What form of drama was definitely established just before Shakespeare began his career?

Q10. Who were the immediate predecessors of Shakespeare that established this romantic drama?

Q1. How does the 'classic' drama treat the spheres of tragedy and comedy?

Q2. In 'classic' drama, how is the dramatic action typically handled?

Q3. What are the three unities that controlled the construction of 'classic' drama?

Q4. What does the unity of 'time' mean in the classic drama?

Q5. What does the unity of 'action' mean in the classic drama?

Q6. From whose practice and teachings were these classic principles supposedly derived?

Q7. Through whose plays did these classic principles come into the modern drama in their severest form?

Q8. How does the 'romantic' (or Shakespearean) drama handle theme and tone?

Q9. How does the 'romantic' drama handle dramatic action?

Q10. How does the 'romantic' drama handle the three unities?

Q1. What did Shakespeare's predecessors achieve for him?

Q2. What is the common name given to this group of Shakespeare's predecessors?

Q3. What did the term 'University Wits' imply about these men?

Q4. Despite their academic training, to what did these men (with one exception) give their talents?

Q5. Which of the following is NOT listed as one of the 'University Wits'?

Q6. Which two writers are noted as having special significance due to their direct influence upon Shakespeare?

Q7. What prose romance is John Lyly most widely known as the author of?

Q8. How many comedies does John Lyly's dramatic work consist of?

Q9. Which of the University Wits wrote around the years 1564-1593 and had a direct influence on Shakespeare?

Q10. What role did the strong national taste of the audience play in the work of the University Wits?

Q1. John Lyly's comedies (like Campaspe and Endymion) were written for performance at court. What did the interest in them depend on?

Q2. What did John Lyly help give comedy at a time when public stage humors ran into coarseness?

Q3. In his clever repartee and verbal fireworks, who did Lyly anticipate and undeniably master in comedy?

Q4. Which of Marlowe's plays gives him the place of pre-eminence among pre-Shakespearean playwrights despite their bombast?

Q5. What poetic form did Marlowe introduce to the romantic drama and the public stage in these plays?

Q6. Which of Shakespeare's narrative poems is in part inspired by Marlowe's 'Hero and Leander'?

Q7. When and where was William Shakespeare born?

Q8. What was the profession of Shakespeare's father?

Q9. Why was Shakespeare taken from school when he was about fourteen?

Q10. Who did Shakespeare marry in his 19th year?

Q1. How is Shakespeare's marriage to Anne Hathaway described?

Q2. What are the names of Shakespeare's three children?

Q3. According to tradition, what escapade obliged Shakespeare to fly from home?

Q4. Roughly when did Shakespeare leave his native town to seek his fortunes in London?

Q5. How do we know that Shakespeare was well known as a successful author by 1592?

Q6. How long did Shakespeare remain in London producing on average a couple of plays a year?

Q7. Shakespeare became a shareholder in which two leading theatres?

Q8. Between 1610 and 1612, where did Shakespeare retire?

Q9. Who did Shakespeare's elder daughter, Susannah, marry in 1607?

Q10. On what date did Shakespeare die?

Q1. What does Shakespeare's biography prove conclusively about his character?

Q2. How did Shakespeare reach London, and how did he leave it?

Q3. How is the learning shown in Shakespeare's plays described?

Q4. What gave Shakespeare easy access to the treasures of ancient literature?

Q5. Shakespeare's non-dramatic poetry consists of two narrative poems and a sequence of how many sonnets?

Q6. Who are the 154 sonnets addressed to?

Q7. What is the only certainty regarding Shakespeare's sonnets?

Q8. How many plays does the commonly accepted canon of Shakespeare's dramatic work comprise?

Q9. Over how many years did Shakespeare's activity as a writer for the stage extend?

Q10. How have Shakespearean critics agreed to subdivide these 24 years of dramatic writing?

Q1. What years constitute Shakespeare's First Period (the period of early and experimental work)?

Q2. Which of the following plays belongs to the First Period (1588-93)?

Q3. How is the work of the First Period generally characterized?

Q4. What is a prominent technical feature of the First Period?

Q5. What years constitute Shakespeare's Second Period (the period of the great comedies and chronicle plays)?

Q6. Which of the following plays belongs to the Second Period (1594-1600)?

Q7. How does the work of the Second Period compare to the First Period?

Q8. What happens to Shakespeare's technical style in the Second Period?

Q9. Which play is an example of the First Period's comedies where Lyly's influence is pronounced?

Q10. Which period features the history play 'Henry V'?

Q1. What years constitute Shakespeare's Third Period (the period of great tragedies and sombre comedies)?

Q2. What is the striking change that occurs in the entire spirit of Shakespeare's work during the Third Period?

Q3. Which of the following plays belongs to the Third Period (1601-1608)?

Q4. Even when Shakespeare writes comedies in the Third Period, what is their tone?

Q5. What years constitute Shakespeare's Fourth Period (the period of later comedies or Dramatic Romances)?

Q6. How does the temper of Shakespeare's work change again in the Fourth Period?

Q7. What is true of Shakespeare's dramatic powers in the Fourth Period?

Q8. Which three plays are entirely Shakespeare's from this final period?

Q9. Which play from the Fourth Period was completed by his younger contemporary and friend, Fletcher?

Q10. Does the author agree that Shakespeare was so entirely a dramatist that no trace of his own thoughts is found in his work?

Q1. How does Shakespeare's body of work rank in English literature?

Q2. What is described as perhaps the most salient feature of Shakespeare's plays?

Q3. How is Shakespeare's ability to digest thought into phraseology described?

Q4. What is unparalleled about Shakespeare's characterization?

Q5. How large is Shakespeare's computed vocabulary?

Q6. How does Shakespeare's vocabulary size compare to Milton's?

Q7. What is a noted limitation or defect of Shakespeare's writing?

Q8. Why did Shakespeare sometimes sacrifice consistency of character and the finer demands of art?

Q9. What does the occasional coarseness in Shakespeare's plays reflect?

Q10. Despite faults like crude psychology in places or bombastic language, how do they compare to his paramount qualities?

Q1. Who is considered the most important of Shakespeare's contemporaries in the annals of the stage?

Q2. Why were the aims and principles of Ben Jonson's work fundamentally different from Shakespeare's?

Q3. Where was Ben Jonson educated, laying the foundation for his sound classical scholarship?

Q4. With what satiric comedy did Ben Jonson open his career as a dramatist in 1598?

Q5. What happened to Jonson's fortunes with the accession of Charles I?

Q6. When did Ben Jonson die?

Q7. Which group of Jonson's plays are described as very learned, very laborious, and very dull?

Q8. Which of the following is considered part of the best and most significant of Jonson's production?

Q9. Unlike the world of romance in Shakespeare's comedies, what world does Jonson depict as a realist?

Q10. In addition to depicting to amuse, what is Jonson's aim regarding the moral functions of the stage?

Q1. On what idea is Jonson's characterization based?

Q2. What does Jonson call this 'master passion' that he builds a character out of?

Q3. Reverting to the old morality method, what does Jonson often do with his characters?

Q4. Which of the following describes the nature of Jonson's comedies?

Q5. Historically, Ben Jonson is extremely important as the real founder of what?

Q6. Which lesser playwright was a dramatist of sombre cast of genius whose love of the violent often led to sensationalism?

Q7. Name two famous plays by John Webster containing scenes of tragic passion unrivalled outside Shakespeare.

Q8. Which playwright showed a similar tendency towards repulsive subjects but used pathos in works like 'The Broken Heart'?

Q9. Which two playwrights are almost always associated because they did much work in collaboration?

Q10. Which play by Philip Massinger reached a high level in comedy?

Q1. Who was referred to by Charles Lamb as 'the last of a great race' of dramatists, belonging to Charles I's reign?

Q2. What becomes apparent in the dramatists by the time we reach the end of this period?

Q3. In the early years of the regular drama, where had plays typically been performed?

Q4. When were the first two permanent playhouses built in London?

Q5. What were the names of these first two permanent playhouses?

Q6. Why were the playhouses not built within the boundaries of London proper?

Q7. By the end of Elizabeth's reign, at least how many playhouses were in existence?

Q8. With which two playhouses was Shakespeare very closely connected?

Q9. Why were actors forced to enroll themselves in companies as 'servants' of influential patrons?

Q10. What company did Shakespeare belong to?

Q1. What was the shape and primary building material of these early playhouses?

Q2. How much of the playhouse was roofed in with thatch?

Q3. Who frequented the boxes or 'rooms'?

Q4. Where did the 'groundlings' watch the play?

Q5. How much movable painted scenery was used on the Shakespearean stage?

Q6. How did the audience know where a scene was supposed to be laid?

Q7. What was the small structure at the back of the stage (balcony and open space beneath) used for?

Q8. When did performances generally begin and how long did they last?

Q9. Who played women's parts on the Shakespearean stage?

Q10. Did everyone prefer women acting once they finally appeared on English boards after the Restoration?

Q1. According to the note on page 72, where can the Table of the Drama of the Age of Shakespeare be found?

Q2. The Age of Shakespeare is commonly subdivided into how many divisions as mentioned previously?

Q3. The first division of the Age of Shakespeare is often called the 'springtide' or what else?

Q4. Which term properly applies to the third division of the Age of Shakespeare (the reign of James I)?

Q5. Which monarch's death marked the end of the Age of Shakespeare in 1625?

Q1. Did the Age of Shakespeare produce what we specifically call the 'novel' (the long story of contemporary life)?

Q2. What gave a stimulus to the development of prose fiction during this age?

Q3. What secondary interest do Italian novelle (short stories) have in English literary history?

Q4. Name a popular collection of adapted/imitated stories from this era.

Q5. Who wrote the most important prose romance of the period, 'Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit'?

Q6. In what year was the first part of 'Euphues' published, making it exactly contemporary with Spenser's Shepheardes Calender?

Q7. What is the title of the sequel to 'Euphues' published the following year?

Q8. Where does the young Athenian named Euphues travel to in the first part of the story?

Q9. Who does Euphues become intimate friends with in Naples?

Q10. How is the narrative structure of the first part of 'Euphues' described?

Q1. In the second part of Euphues, how does the protagonist describe England?

Q2. How popular was Euphues?

Q3. How did the ladies of the court use 'Euphues'?

Q4. What is Lyly's unique prose style called?

Q5. Euphuism was an attempt to do what to the vernacular tongue?

Q6. What is perhaps the outstanding feature of Euphuism?

Q7. Give an example of balanced antithesis used in the text.

Q8. With what other rhetorical device is balanced antithesis frequently combined in Lyly's style?

Q9. What does Lyly indulge freely in besides antithesis and alliteration?

Q10. What is Lyly's fondness for 'non-natural natural history'?

Q1. What famous Shakespearean quote is an example of the same fantastic pseudo-science found in Euphuism?

Q2. What is considered the second most important Elizabethan prose romance?

Q3. How does the plot of 'Arcadia' compare to 'Euphues'?

Q4. What makes Sidney's prose style in 'Arcadia' wearisome in the long run?

Q5. Which two 'University Wits' have importance as writers of romance with styles fashioned upon Lyly?

Q6. Why are Lodge's 'Rosalynde' and Greene's 'Pandosto' still of interest today?

Q7. Thomas Nash gave a distinct lead in the direction of what style of fiction?

Q8. What is the title of Thomas Nash's rambling record of adventure on the continent?

Q9. 'The Unfortunate Traveller' is our earliest English example of what type of novel?

Q10. In what country was the picaresque novel already popular before Nash?

Q1. Was the English literature of the Age of Shakespeare entirely a literature of the imagination?

Q2. Who is considered the principal prose master of his time?

Q3. What did the Queen jestingly call Francis Bacon when he was a boy due to his precocity?

Q4. What profession did Bacon choose when his father's death threw him upon his own resources?

Q5. Under which monarch did Bacon rise rapidly in favor and fortune?

Q6. What high office did Bacon eventually achieve in 1618?

Q7. What caused the sudden crash in Bacon's career?

Q8. What was Bacon's sentence upon impeachment?

Q9. How did Francis Bacon die in 1626?

Q10. How did Bacon view his own life's purpose?

Q1. Despite his stated purpose of serving mankind, what did Bacon often sacrifice his ideals for in practice?

Q2. What are considered Bacon's greatest works, placing him in the front rank of the world's epoch-makers?

Q3. What do the Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum belong to the history of?

Q4. What is Francis Bacon's principal contribution to general literature?

Q5. The writing of Bacon's Essays was doubtless suggested by the 'Essais' of which great French thinker?

Q6. How did Bacon use the word 'essay' (in its original etymological sense)?

Q7. What are the salient qualities of Bacon's Essays?

Q8. The wisdom inculcated in Bacon's Essays is on the whole of what kind?

Q9. How is Bacon's prose style described despite his supposed aim for 'masculine and clear expression'?

Q10. What is the most important characteristic of Bacon's style, giving it the description 'infinite riches in a little room'?

Q1. Who wrote the vast and uncritical 'History of the World' (1614)?

Q2. Who wrote the 'History of the Reign of Henry VII' (1622)?

Q3. What is John Foxe known for writing in 1563?

Q4. Which historical work did Shakespeare often lay under contribution for his historical plays?

Q5. Which famous work is an example of the literature of travel that flourished during this time of adventure?

Q6. Who wrote the masterly 'Ecclesiastical Polity' (1594-97), noted for a style generally plainer than most contemporary prose?

Q7. What profoundly influential religious text was published in 1611?

Q8. What does the development of the literature of criticism during this era signify?

Q9. What is the best known of these early treatises of criticism, written about 1581?

Q10. According to the Table, when was the first English comedy in prose (Gascoigne's Supposes) published?

Q1. According to the table, what event occurred in 1576 under the Drama column?

Q2. In what year was Gascoigne's 'Steele Glas' published?

Q3. In what year were Holinshed's Chronicles published?

Q4. The 'Later Elizabethan Period' spans from 1579 to what year?

Q5. Which three major works were all published in 1579, marking the start of the Later Elizabethan Period?

Q6. According to the table, when were Sidney's Arcadia and Apologie for Poetrie written?

Q7. When did Christopher Marlowe write his first tragedy, Tamburlaine the Great?

Q8. What years span Shakespeare's First Period according to the table?

Q9. Who wrote 'Pandosto' in 1588, which later became source material for Shakespeare?

Q10. Who wrote the 'Discourse of English Poetrie' in 1586?

Q1. In what year were the first three books of Spenser's Faery Queene published?

Q2. What significant event in the dramatic world happened in 1593?

Q3. What years cover Shakespeare's Second Period?

Q4. When was the first edition of Bacon's Essays (containing ten essays) published?

Q5. What was Ben Jonson's first play, performed in 1598?

Q6. When was the Globe Theatre built?

Q7. What year did Edmund Spenser die?

Q8. What years cover the 'Jacobean Period'?

Q9. Which dramatist died in 1606 during the Jacobean period?

Q10. When did Beaumont and Fletcher begin producing their plays according to the table?

Q1. What years span Shakespeare's Fourth Period (his final period of dramatic romances)?

Q2. In what year were Shakespeare's Sonnets published?

Q3. What monumental translation was published in 1611?

Q4. When did Shakespeare and Francis Beaumont both die?

Q5. When was the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays published?

Q6. When did John Fletcher die?

Q7. How many essays were in the third edition of Bacon's Essays, published in 1625?

Q8. According to the footnote on page 81, what does the Spanish word 'picaro' mean?

Q9. Which author's work 'Polyolbion' spans the dates 1613-1622 in the table?

Q10. Which period concludes with the deaths of Fletcher and King James I in 1625?

Q1. What period of time does the 'Age of Milton' cover in the text?

Q2. What is the principal historical feature of the Age of Milton for the student of literature?

Q3. Why were radicals dissatisfied with the religious settlement accomplished by Archbishop Parker during the Reformation?

Q4. Which famous figure from Geneva greatly influenced these dissentients?

Q5. What were these dissentients united in their hostility toward?

Q6. Because they advocated very strict views concerning life and conduct, what did these dissentients come to be called?

Q7. How did the name 'Puritan' originate around the year of Shakespeare's birth?

Q8. During whose reign did the uncompromising spirit of the Puritans spread steadily among the middle classes?

Q9. Was it during the reign of James I that Puritanism emerged as a great national power?

Q10. Who were the true descendants of Wyclif and the Lollards?

Q1. What behavior of the upper classes helped increase the moral and social influence of Puritanism?

Q2. Whose high-handed policy and determination to enforce his will by persecution brought all enemies of episcopacy into line?

Q3. What actions by King Charles I made the Puritans intolerant of earthly tyranny?

Q4. What role did Puritanism play during this critical time in England's history?

Q5. With whose triumph did Puritanism become supreme during the Commonwealth?

Q6. How does the author characterize the spirit that Puritanism introduced to English life?

Q7. While admiring the Puritan's integrity, what does the author deplore about them?

Q8. How did Puritanism generally view the science, art, knowledge, and beauty of secular life?

Q9. What effect did Puritanism have on humane culture and literature?

Q10. Who was the greatest product of Puritanism in English literature, able to transcend its limitations?

Q1. In what way did Milton's work differ from strict Puritanism?

Q2. When and where was John Milton born?

Q3. Despite being strongly Puritan, what did Milton's father love, which gave the child a cultivated home?

Q4. Where was Milton educated?

Q5. Why did Milton decide not to enter the church, as had been intended for him?

Q6. Where did Milton spend six years of almost uninterrupted seclusion pursuing his studies?

Q7. What was the result of Milton's untiring devotion to learning during his youth and time at Horton?

Q8. Why must Milton's scholarship be carefully marked when studying his poetry?

Q9. Where did Milton go in May 1638 to complete his studies by travel?

Q10. Why was Milton prematurely recalled from his travels in Italy?

Q1. From 1640 onward, what cause was Milton increasingly active in supporting?

Q2. What position was Milton appointed to on the establishment of the Commonwealth?

Q3. What terrible calamity overtook Milton early in 1653, ruined by over-stress of work?

Q4. What happened to Milton upon the restoration of the monarchy?

Q5. When were Milton's greatest works (Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes) published?

Q6. When did John Milton die?

Q7. How many periods does Milton's work naturally fall into?

Q8. Which poem is noted as a very remarkable production from his first (college) period?

Q9. Which period contains four minor poems of such beauty they would have placed him high among English poets even without Paradise Lost?

Q10. Name the four great minor poems written during the Horton period.

Q1. Read in the order of their writing, what do the Horton poems show taking place in Milton's mind?

Q2. Under what inspiration did Milton chiefly begin to write his earlier poetry?

Q3. How do L'Allegro and Il Penseroso (the earliest of the Horton poems) reflect Puritanism?

Q4. Which poem marks a distinct stage in the development of Milton's mind, where the Puritan spirit makes its influence felt?

Q5. On the literary side, what type of Renaissance drama is 'Comus' an example of?

Q6. From where had the 'Mask' been brought into England?

Q7. What does Milton's willingness to write a Mask (Comus) prove about his views at the time?

Q8. Though written in the form of Renaissance art, what did Milton fill 'Comus' with?

Q9. In the story of Comus, who lures away the lady lost in the woods?

Q10. Who rescues the lady in Comus?

Q1. What is the allegory in Milton's 'Comus' about?

Q2. In Milton's poem 'Lycidas', what kind of Puritanism do we see?

Q3. Who is 'Lycidas' an elegy for?

Q4. While the form of 'Lycidas' (pastoral elegy) belongs to the Renaissance, what does its famous attack upon the corrupt church proclaim?

Q5. What did Milton do when he returned to England from the Continent in his 31st year?

Q6. Because he gave his strength to his public duty in these controversies, what did Milton do for the next twenty years?

Q7. How many sonnets did Milton produce during the prime of his manhood (a period equal to Shakespeare's whole dramatic career)?

Q8. How does the text describe Milton's prose works?

Q9. What did Milton himself call his prose works?

Q10. Why is Milton's prose style described as heavy and cumbrous?

Q1. Which of Milton's prose treatises stands apart as a great and noble work that every lover of liberty should read?

Q2. What is 'Areopagitica' directed against?

Q3. 'Areopagitica' is essentially a plea for what?

Q4. When did Milton finally find the leisure to write his greatest English poem, 'Paradise Lost'?

Q5. The inspiration and subject-matter of 'Paradise Lost' come from what?

Q6. Upon the foundation of his theology, what does 'Paradise Lost' undertake to do?

Q7. While as a thinker and moralist Milton belonged completely to Puritanism in 'Paradise Lost', to what did he belong as an artist?

Q8. What were Milton's avowed models for the form and style of 'Paradise Lost'?

Q9. What fact is of capital importance when considering 'Paradise Lost'?

Q10. How is the combination of influences in Milton summarized in 'Paradise Lost'?

Q1. Which of the following is NOT set forth in 'Paradise Lost'?

Q2. What was the central purpose of 'Paradise Lost'?

Q3. How does Milton choose to close 'Paradise Lost'?

Q4. What sequel to 'Paradise Lost' did Milton write, covering the temptation of Christ in the wilderness?

Q5. How do most modern readers view 'Paradise Regained' compared to its predecessor?

Q6. Which 'dramatic poem' crowns the labors of Milton's closing years?

Q7. How is 'Samson Agonistes' fashioned?

Q8. Why did Milton return to the story of Samson late in his life?

Q9. How does Milton rank among English poets?

Q10. In the judgment of critics, Milton is regarded as one of the three or four supreme poets of what?

Q1. Which epithet is most naturally associated with Milton's poetry?

Q2. What did Matthew Arnold call the style of which Milton is our one acknowledged master?

Q3. Where is Milton's astonishing descriptive power highly evident?

Q4. Although lacking in true dramatic sense, what does the debate in the council of fallen angels show?

Q5. Though an epic is theoretically impersonal, how is Milton's epic characterized?

Q6. What quote is used to describe Milton's lofty temper and passionate moral earnestness?

Q7. What form did Milton use for 'Paradise Lost' that had not previously been used for any important non-dramatic poem?

Q8. Who remains our greatest master of English heroic verse without rime?

Q9. What does the text say about Milton's touch as a consummate literary artist?

Q10. How is Milton's personality sometimes described despite his greatness?

Q1. Why is it difficult to establish a satisfactory order for the writers between 1625 and 1700?

Q2. Under what term does the text group a number of verse writers roughly assigned to the reign of Charles I?

Q3. Did the Caroline poets stop producing work after the reign of Charles I ended?

Q4. What two types of poetry did the Caroline poets write?

Q5. Who is considered the most important of the Caroline poets?

Q6. What types of poetry did Robert Herrick write?

Q7. Who was Robert Herrick an associate of in his early life?

Q8. What profession did Robert Herrick eventually enter?

Q9. Where did Robert Herrick find himself banished to?

Q10. What is the defining characteristic used in the text to group writers as 'Caroline Poets' regardless of dates?

Q1. Under what title was Robert Herrick's religious poetry published?

Q2. Under what title was Robert Herrick's secular poetry published?

Q3. What is a singular historical feature of Herrick's delightful, spontaneous secular poetry?

Q4. What is the name of the group of Caroline poets whose inspiration was entirely or almost entirely secular?

Q5. Which three principal names belong to the Cavalier group?

Q6. How did the Cavalier poets treat their art?

Q7. Who wrote 'To Althea from Prison'?

Q8. Why is Andrew Marvell joined with the Cavalier poets despite his later political stances?

Q9. Who is the most widely known of the Caroline poets who found their main interest in religion, author of 'The Temple'?

Q10. Whose sacred verse, though unequal and ruined by conceits at times, has far greater fire and passion than Herbert's?

Q1. Who is usually regarded as the chief representative of the 'metaphysical' school of poetry?

Q2. Which later critic first applied the name 'metaphysical' to this school of poetry?

Q3. According to Johnson, what was the whole endeavor of the metaphysical poets?

Q4. How does Johnson describe the thoughts of the metaphysical poets?

Q5. Which of the following is NOT a salient feature of the metaphysical group of writers?

Q6. As a result of their effort to surprise by novelty and ingenuity at any cost, how is their work generally described?

Q7. Does the author believe the metaphysical poets completely lacked genius?

Q8. What frantic absurdity does the text use as an example from Crashaw regarding Mary Magdalene's eyes?

Q9. Why did English poetry go astray during this time, according to Johnson?

Q10. Who produced the last important works of the metaphysical school, later discarding much of the extravagance?