Interactive Literature MCQs

Q1. What is an important principle of historical interpretation noted by the author regarding strong movements? A. They always last forever B. They always set up a counter-movement C. They eventually destroy society D. They only happen in political spheres Answer: B

Q2. The great counter-movement in the Age of Tennyson was against the domination of: A. Poetry B. Democracy C. Science D. The monarchy Answer: C

Q3. Science tended to materialism alike in thought and in life. How did a great deal of Victorian literature respond? A. By fully embracing materialism B. By desiring to check this tendency and proclaim the eternal value of spiritual things C. By ignoring science completely D. By returning to Latin and Greek Answer: B

Q4. What was the prompting motive of the romantic revival during the Victorian era? A. A love for modern materialistic civilization B. Dissatisfaction with the ugliness of modern materialistic civilization C. A desire to write purely political pamphlets D. The intention to replace the novel with verse Answer: B

Q5. In the end, the romantic spirit combined with the spirit of what, assuming a practical character? A. Social reform B. Scientific inquiry C. Classical translation D. Utilitarianism Answer: A

Q6. Who are identified as the two chief poets of the Age of Tennyson? A. Keats and Shelley B. Tennyson and Browning C. Wordsworth and Coleridge D. Swinburne and Rossetti Answer: B

Q7. In what year was Alfred Tennyson born? A. 1798 B. 1809 C. 1832 D. 1850 Answer: B

Q8. In 1829, Tennyson won the Chancellor's medal at Cambridge for a poem on what subject? A. Timbuctoo B. King Arthur C. Prometheus D. Waterloo Answer: A

Q9. In what year did Tennyson become poet Laureate? A. 1832 B. 1842 C. 1850 D. 1884 Answer: C

Q1. Which of the following is a monodrama published by Tennyson in 1854? A. The Princess B. Maud C. Enoch Arden D. In Memoriam Answer: B

Q2. What overarching subject occupied Tennyson's attention for many years, culminating in a series of Idylls? A. The Greek gods B. The story of Arthur and the Round Table C. The history of the Roman Empire D. The life of Christ Answer: B

Q3. For upwards of a decade, Tennyson devoted his energies mainly to which new field? A. The novel B. The essay C. The drama D. Political journalism Answer: C

Q4. Which of the following is one of Tennyson's historical plays? A. King John B. Becket C. The Tempest D. Strafford Answer: B

Q5. According to Tennyson's directions, which superb lyric is always printed as the last poem in any complete edition of his works? A. The Ancient Sage B. Vastness C. Akbar's Dream D. Crossing the Bar Answer: D

Q6. Tennyson is considered perhaps the most conscientious and accomplished poetic artist in English literature after which poet? A. Chaucer B. Shakespeare C. Milton D. Pope Answer: C

Q7. What was Tennyson's relationship to his age from a strictly historical point of view? A. He was completely detached from it B. He was highly critical of all its movements C. He was the most thoroughly representative poet of his age D. He was largely ignored during his lifetime Answer: C

Q8. To whom is Tennyson compared regarding his representative status for his respective era? A. Spenser to the England of Elizabeth B. Chaucer to the Middle Ages C. Milton to the Puritan Age D. Pope to the Augustan Age Answer: A

Q9. The extraordinary diversity of Tennyson's work is typical of the strongly marked what of his age? A. Realism B. Eclecticism C. Absolutism D. Puritanism Answer: B

Q1. In which poem did Tennyson grapple with the question of the higher education of women? A. Maud B. The Princess C. Enoch Arden D. The May Queen Answer: B

Q2. 'Maud' quivers with the patriotic passion associated with which war? A. The Napoleonic Wars B. The Crimean War C. The Boer War D. The American Civil War Answer: B

Q3. In the 'Idylls of the King', what did Tennyson do with the old medieval story? A. He translated it directly into Latin B. He turned it into a parable bearing upon contemporary life C. He converted it into a comedy D. He replaced all the characters with Greek gods Answer: B

Q4. Politically and socially, Tennyson stands out as the poetic exponent of the cautious spirit of: A. Revolutionary radicalism B. Victorian liberalism C. Jacobite conservatism D. Anarchism Answer: B

Q5. Tennyson held tenaciously to the great heritage of English tradition and was firmly opposed to: A. Law and order B. The progress of mankind C. 'Raw haste' and rash experiments D. The monarchy Answer: C

Q6. Which famous line is from Tennyson's poetry about change? A. 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever' B. 'The old order changeth, yielding place to new' C. 'Water, water, everywhere' D. 'To be, or not to be' Answer: B

Q7. In the poem cited, why does God fulfill himself in many ways? A. To confuse mankind B. Lest one good custom should corrupt the world C. To punish the wicked D. To show his absolute power Answer: B

Q8. Despite being a recluse and an aristocrat, Tennyson was profoundly interested in: A. Royal genealogy B. Common people and common things C. Collecting rare medieval manuscripts D. Traveling to foreign countries Answer: B

Q9. Which of the following poems by Tennyson is NOT mentioned as dealing with common people and things? A. The May Queen B. Enoch Arden C. Dora D. The Ancient Sage Answer: D

Q1. Tennyson's poetry is particularly important as a record of what life of the time? A. Economic life B. Intellectual and spiritual life C. Military life D. Agricultural life Answer: B

Q2. In which poem may we best read of the Victorian century's great conflict of doubt and faith? A. The Ancient Sage B. In Memoriam C. Enoch Arden D. Maud Answer: B

Q3. How did Tennyson's view of nature differ from Wordsworth's? A. He saw it with the eye of a scientist as well as a poet B. He ignored its beauty entirely C. He thought it was merely an illusion D. He found no minute details to describe Answer: A

Q4. What aspect of nature disturbed Tennyson's thought? A. Its lack of color B. Its indifference and cruelty in the cosmic struggle C. Its excessive harmony D. Its artificiality Answer: B

Q5. Tennyson's persistent belief in evolution helped him look forward to: A. The destruction of the earth B. The return of the Middle Ages C. The 'one far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves' D. The victory of pure materialism Answer: C

Q6. Robert Browning was born in what year? A. 1809 B. 1812 C. 1832 D. 1850 Answer: B

Q7. What was the title of Browning's first published work in 1833? A. Paracelsus B. Pauline C. Strafford D. Sordello Answer: B

Q8. In 1837, which tragedy by Browning was produced at Covent Garden by Macready? A. The Cenci B. Remorse C. Strafford D. Othello Answer: C

Q9. In 1846, Robert Browning married which poet? A. Mary Shelley B. Elizabeth Barrett C. Christina Rossetti D. Felicia Hemans Answer: B

Q1. Which enormous dramatic-narrative poem in four volumes did Browning publish in 1868-69? A. The Ring and the Book B. Dramatis Personae C. Men and Women D. Asolando Answer: A

Q2. What was the title of Browning's last volume, published on the very day he died in 1889? A. Paracelsus B. The Ring and the Book C. Asolando D. Bells and Pomegranates Answer: C

Q3. How is Browning's style contrasted with Tennyson's? A. Browning was much more smooth and polished B. Browning was bold, rugged, and altogether unconventional C. Browning used strict classical meter exclusively D. Browning never used dramatic forms Answer: B

Q4. A common criticism of Browning's later work is that it is: A. Too simplistic and childish B. Prolix, ill-digested, and marred by harshness and obscurity C. An exact imitation of Shakespeare D. Completely lacking in any philosophical meaning Answer: B

Q5. Browning's genius was essentially: A. Lyrical B. Dramatic C. Epic D. Satirical Answer: B

Q6. Rather than the world of action, where was Browning's interest centered? A. In the natural landscape B. In the moral and spiritual forces and conflicts of individual men and women C. In abstract mathematical theories D. In political economy Answer: B

Q7. What was Browning's characteristic art-form, which he used more effectively than any other poet? A. The regular stage-play B. The detached speech, or dramatic monologue C. The Spenserian stanza D. The Petrarchan sonnet Answer: B

Q8. In his dramatic monologues, how does Browning typically reveal a character? A. By dissecting him from the outside as an ordinary novelist would B. By making him reveal his innermost secrets through his own utterances, usually at a critical moment C. By having a chorus explain his actions D. By strictly describing only his physical appearance Answer: B

Q9. Which two qualities are noted as main features of Browning's poetry? A. Perfect rhyme and pastoral settings B. Psychological insight and analytical subtlety C. Scientific realism and cold logic D. Melancholy and despair Answer: B

Q1. As a moralist and religious teacher, what did Browning preach as the central truths of his philosophy of life? A. God and immortality B. Scientific materialism and evolution C. Agnosticism and doubt D. Social revolution Answer: A

Q2. Browning's poetry was a protest against scientific materialism and also against: A. The use of dramatic monologues B. The optimistic faith of the age C. The pessimistic mood engendered by current philosophy D. The teaching of the church Answer: C

Q3. The melancholy, hesitating spirit so often expressed by Tennyson is: A. Imitated perfectly by Browning B. Absent from Browning's verse, who retained a robustly optimistic faith C. The exact theme of 'The Ring and the Book' D. What makes Browning a classicist Answer: B

Q4. 'Hope hard in the subtle thing that's spirit,' was the note of whose message? A. Tennyson B. Matthew Arnold C. Browning D. Arthur Hugh Clough Answer: C

Q5. Which of Browning's characters says: 'God's in His heaven - all's right with the world'? A. Sordello B. Pippa C. Paracelsus D. Strafford Answer: B

Q6. Who is suggested as holding the third place among poets of the Victorian Age, after Tennyson and Browning? A. Matthew Arnold B. Arthur Hugh Clough C. Dante Gabriel Rossetti D. Swinburne Answer: A

Q7. By sympathy and training, Matthew Arnold was a thorough: A. Romantic B. Classicist C. Realist D. Pre-Raphaelite Answer: B

Q8. Matthew Arnold believed that all really great poetry is: A. Subjective poetry of self-expression B. Impersonal or objective poetry (like drama and epic) C. Satirical poetry D. Lyrical poetry Answer: B

Q9. Which of the following is one of Matthew Arnold's ambitious objective poems? A. Sohrab and Rustum B. Maud C. The Ring and the Book D. Men and Women Answer: A

Q1. Most of Matthew Arnold's personal poetry is steeped in: A. The robust optimism of Browning B. The melancholy spirit of an era of transition C. A joyful celebration of nature D. Fierce political satire Answer: B

Q2. The lines 'Wandering between two worlds, one dead, / The other powerless to be born' are from which of Arnold's poems? A. Empedocles on Etna B. Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse C. Thyrsis D. Balder Dead Answer: B

Q3. How is Arnold's poetic style described? A. Cold and clear, with fine restraint and sculpturesque purity B. Lush, ornate, and highly musical C. Bold, rugged, and unconventional D. Spasmodic and overly emotional Answer: A

Q4. 'Thyrsis' is Matthew Arnold's noble monody on the death of which friend and spiritual kinsman? A. Arthur Henry Hallam B. Arthur Hugh Clough C. Robert Browning D. Lord Tennyson Answer: B

Q5. Which delightful longer poem by Arthur Hugh Clough deserves to be better known? A. The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich B. Casa Guidi Windows C. Aurora Leigh D. Sordello Answer: A

Q6. Who holds the position as the most considerable and vigorous of all women-writers of verse of this period? A. Christina Rossetti B. Emily Bronte C. Elizabeth Barrett Browning D. Jane Austen Answer: C

Q7. What was one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's main faults as a writer? A. She wrote too little and too slowly B. She lacked the faculty of self-criticism and frequently exhibited over-wrought emotionalism C. She adhered too strictly to classical rules D. Her poetry was completely devoid of emotion Answer: B

Q8. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry sometimes degenerates into: A. Dry philosophical debate B. Downright gush and hysterics C. Complex mathematical formulas D. Purely objective epics Answer: B

Q9. At her best, what redeeming qualities does Elizabeth Barrett Browning exhibit? A. Noble sincerity, genuine passion, and undeniable power over language B. Cold clarity and sculpturesque purity C. Subtle psychological analysis and dramatic monologue mastery D. A complete detachment from human suffering Answer: A

Q1. Which long poem in blank verse by Elizabeth Barrett Browning might really be classed as a novel, save for its form? A. The Cry of the Children B. Casa Guidi Windows C. Aurora Leigh D. Sonnets from the Portuguese Answer: C

Q2. Unlike Matthew Arnold, Mrs. Browning believed that it should be one chief aim of the poet to: A. Imitate Greek tragedies B. Meet the age face to face C. Escape completely into the past D. Write only in Latin Answer: B

Q3. In which series of sonnets did Mrs. Browning enshrine her love, creating a masterpiece of love-poetry? A. The House of Life B. Sonnets from the Portuguese C. Modern Love D. Astrophil and Stella Answer: B

Q4. Dante Gabriel Rossetti is the leading figure in which artistic movement? A. Pre-Raphaelitism B. Imagism C. The Spasmodic School D. The Lake School Answer: A

Q5. How is Dante Gabriel Rossetti described in relation to his time, using Mr. Hall Caine's language? A. A progressive visionary B. An anachronism in these days C. A scientific rationalist D. The voice of Victorian industry Answer: B

Q6. The real home of Rossetti's imagination was not 19th-century London, but: A. Ancient Rome B. The Florence of Dante's era C. Medieval Paris D. The Scottish Highlands Answer: B

Q7. Despite the deeply Catholic atmosphere of his poetry, what were Rossetti's actual intellectual convictions? A. He was a devout Catholic B. He was an evangelical Protestant C. He was an agnostic D. He was a staunch Puritan Answer: C

Q8. In which poetic form did Rossetti excel when dealing with situations of tragic intensity? A. The dramatic monologue B. The blank verse epic C. The ballad D. The mock-heroic Answer: C

Q9. Which of the following is a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti? A. The Blessed Damozel B. Aurora Leigh C. Casa Guidi Windows D. Sordello Answer: A

Q1. Who is the only other woman-poet in this literature who can fairly be placed beside Mrs. Browning? A. Emily Bronte B. Christina Georgina Rossetti C. George Eliot D. Felicia Hemans Answer: B

Q2. Christina Rossetti's work is characterized by: A. Satirical humor and political commentary B. Deep religious feeling, a pronounced strain of mysticism, and much metrical charm C. Cold classicism and objective epic forms D. Detailed descriptions of industrial life Answer: B

Q3. Through which poet is the main line of Rossetti's influence and romanticism traced? A. Algernon Charles Swinburne B. Matthew Arnold C. William Morris D. James Thomson Answer: C

Q4. Which of the following is an early work by William Morris? A. The Earthly Paradise B. Atalanta in Calydon C. The White Ship D. Sister Helen Answer: A

Q5. Under the influence of Ruskin and a revulsion from modern commercialism, what political ideology did William Morris adopt? A. Conservatism B. Socialism C. Anarchism D. Imperialism Answer: B

Q6. How did Morris once describe himself early in his career? A. A scorpion B. The idle singer of an empty day C. The poetic exponent of liberalism D. A wandering minstrel Answer: B

Q7. Which poet was the last to die of the great race of Victorian poets? A. Robert Browning B. Lord Tennyson C. Algernon Charles Swinburne D. William Morris Answer: C

Q8. Swinburne's 'Atalanta in Calydon' and 'Erechtheus' rank among the finest attempts to revive which form? A. The medieval mystery play B. The English sonnet sequence C. The pure classic form of Greek tragedy D. The Italian epic Answer: C

Q9. Swinburne wrote an English dramatic trilogy about which historical figure? A. Mary Stuart B. Queen Elizabeth C. Joan of Arc D. Cleopatra Answer: A

Q1. It is primarily as what type of poet that Swinburne will hold his place in our literature? A. An epic poet B. A dramatist C. A lyrist D. A satirist Answer: C

Q2. What was a frequent snare for Swinburne in his poetry? A. His excessive political conservatism B. His fondness for mere verbal effects C. His inability to write in meter D. His strict adherence to realism Answer: B

Q3. Which of the following works is a romantic comedy by Sir Henry Taylor? A. Philip van Artevelde B. The Virgin Widow, or A Sicilian Summer C. The Quest of the Sangraal D. Proverbial Philosophy Answer: B

Q4. Robert Stephen Hawker was the extremely eccentric vicar of Morwenstow in which English county? A. Devon B. Yorkshire C. Cornwall D. Kent Answer: C

Q5. What is considered Robert Stephen Hawker's finest poem, full of the genuine spirit of medieval adventure? A. The Quest of the Sangraal B. Idylls of the King C. The Earthly Paradise D. Tristram of Lyonesse Answer: A

Q6. Who produced the famous free translation, or paraphrase, of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam? A. Sir Henry Taylor B. Robert Stephen Hawker C. Edward FitzGerald D. Martin Farquhar Tupper Answer: C

Q7. In which century did the original Persian astronomer-poet, Omar Khayyam, live? A. The ninth century B. The eleventh century C. The thirteenth century D. The fifteenth century Answer: B

Q8. Did Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat achieve immediate success? A. Yes, it was an instant bestseller B. No, it had little success at first, but gradually won its way C. It was completely ignored until the 20th century D. It was banned upon publication Answer: B

Q9. Who was the author of the highly didactic collection 'Proverbial Philosophy'? A. Martin Farquhar Tupper B. Edward FitzGerald C. Robert Stephen Hawker D. Sir Henry Taylor Answer: A

Q1. Upon which enormous poem does Philip James Bailey's reputation rest? A. The Earthly Paradise B. Festus C. The Roman D. Balder Answer: B

Q2. 'Festus' was commonly regarded as the principal agency in fostering which school of poetry? A. The Lake School B. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood C. The Spasmodic School D. The Parnassian School Answer: C

Q3. How did Tennyson sum up Philip James Bailey's 'Festus'? A. As the greatest poem of the century B. As a dull poem containing many grand things C. As completely devoid of merit D. As an exact copy of 'Paradise Lost' Answer: B

Q4. Which two writers are given as examples of exploded reputations from the spasmodic school? A. Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris B. Sydney Dobell and Alexander Smith C. Matthew Arnold and Arthur Hugh Clough D. James Thomson and Edward FitzGerald Answer: B

Q5. James Thomson is known for which poem of pessimism and blank despair? A. Balder B. Life Drama C. The City of Dreadful Night D. The Roman Answer: C

Q6. Lord Macaulay won fame with which stirring work of poetry? A. Lost Tales of Miletus B. Lays of Ancient Rome C. King Arthur D. The Spanish Gypsy Answer: B

Q7. Which versatile author wrote the romantic epic 'King Arthur' and 'Lost Tales of Miletus'? A. Lord Macaulay B. Lord Lytton C. Thackeray D. Kingsley Answer: B

Q8. The author notes that George Eliot's poetry is considerable in quantity, but lacking in what? A. Intellectual qualities B. Moral qualities C. Real poetic inspiration D. Correct grammar Answer: C

Q9. Which of the following is a poetic work by George Eliot? A. The Legend of Jubal B. The Saint's Tragedy C. Andromeda D. Life Drama Answer: A

Q1. Who is described as incomparably the greatest figure in the general prose literature of his age? A. John Ruskin B. Thomas Carlyle C. Matthew Arnold D. Lord Macaulay Answer: B

Q2. In what year was Thomas Carlyle born? A. 1795 B. 1800 C. 1809 D. 1812 Answer: A

Q3. What was the occupation of Thomas Carlyle's father? A. A clergyman B. A stonemason C. A schoolmaster D. A wealthy landowner Answer: B

Q4. Thomas Carlyle sprang straight from the rugged peasantry of which country? A. Ireland B. Wales C. Scotland D. England Answer: C

Q5. Which strict religious doctrine in which he was bred left a lasting impression on Carlyle's mind? A. Methodism B. Roman Catholicism C. The old Calvinism D. Anglicanism Answer: C

Q6. At which university did Thomas Carlyle matriculate in 1809? A. Oxford University B. Cambridge University C. Edinburgh University D. Glasgow University Answer: C

Q7. What was Carlyle's parents' original design for his career? A. That he should become a doctor B. That he should enter the Scottish Church C. That he should be a lawyer D. That he should join the military Answer: B

Q8. Why did Carlyle find it impossible to enter the Scottish Church? A. He lacked the necessary funds for training B. Radical changes in his religious views made it impossible C. He failed his university exams D. He was drafted into the army Answer: B

Q9. What phrase is used to describe the period when Carlyle was striving vainly to recover his lost belief? A. The dark night of the soul B. The howling wilderness of infidelity C. The slough of despond D. The valley of the shadow of death Answer: B

Q1. Which of the following works provided Carlyle with mental relief despite his acute dyspepsia?

Q2. What translation work did Carlyle undertake during his period of hack-writing?

Q3. In what year did Carlyle publish his first important piece of independent work, Life of Schiller?

Q4. Whom did Thomas Carlyle marry in 1826?

Q5. To which European literature did Carlyle contribute heavily in magazines, calling it 'a new heaven and a new earth'?

Q6. Where did Carlyle produce Sartor Resartus, his most characteristic book?

Q7. In what year did Carlyle's The French Revolution appear?

Q8. Which book is considered the most penetrating of Carlyle's works inspired by critical social and industrial conditions?

Q9. What was Carlyle's last important work, published in instalments from 1858 to 1865?

Q10. Where was Thomas Carlyle buried according to his own wish?

Q1. How did Carlyle view the merely bookish side of literature?

Q2. Which of Carlyle's works is described as a 'wonderful prose-epic'?

Q3. Which seventeenth-century spirit found its last great exponent in Carlyle?

Q4. What was the keynote of Carlyle's teaching?

Q5. How did Carlyle view history?

Q6. What was Carlyle's stance on democracy?

Q7. Who did Carlyle believe the great masses of the people needed for guidance?

Q8. What term did Carlyle use to refer to utilitarianism?

Q9. What did Carlyle proclaim to a generation that worshipped the 'mud-gods of modern civilisation'?

Q10. Along with what did Carlyle denounce scientific materialism?

Q1. In what year was John Ruskin born?

Q2. Although born in London, what was Ruskin's familial background?

Q3. With which poem did Ruskin win the Newdigate prize at Oxford in 1839?

Q4. What was the primary purpose of the first volume of Ruskin's Modern Painters?

Q5. Which architectural work did Ruskin produce in 1849?

Q6. Who did Ruskin proclaim as his master in social philosophy?

Q7. What academic position did Ruskin hold in his later life?

Q8. In which series of letters to the working men of England did Ruskin expound his social ideals?

Q9. Which of the following is a book by Ruskin containing his general ethical teachings?

Q10. To what did Ruskin devote most of his time and energy in his later life?

Q1. Where did Ruskin spend the closing years of his life in failing health?

Q2. Ruskin's aesthetic doctrine rests ultimately on what kind of foundations?

Q3. According to Ruskin, a nation can produce true art only if it is inspired by noble national aims and lives what kind of life?

Q4. What did Ruskin believe was necessary before any revival of art was possible in England?

Q5. Ruskin's basic moral principle states that all great art is the expression of an art-gift by a what?

Q6. In emphasizing a constant, direct study of nature in art, whose lead was Ruskin following in poetry?

Q7. What group of artists did Ruskin's philosophy specially inspire to go straight to nature?

Q8. Ruskin was an eloquent advocate of the claims of which type of art over classic (or pagan) art?

Q9. What part of Ruskin's instructions did he emphasize artists must do when painting nature?

Q10. Ruskin's writings fall roughly into two divisions divided by which year?

Q1. While Ruskin's puritanism allied him to Carlyle, his strong romantic bias connected him with whom?

Q2. How was Ruskin's social and economic teaching initially received?

Q3. Ruskin's social teachings were essentially an attempt to apply the principles of what to practical life?

Q4. In his denunciations of modern commercial England, Ruskin followed Carlyle's teachings and became the chief leader of whom?

Q5. Which of the following is cited as a fault in Ruskin's writing style?

Q6. A special feature of Ruskin's style is his marvellous power of what?

Q7. Who was considered by contemporary opinion to hold the first place in general prose over Carlyle and Ruskin?

Q8. In what year was Thomas Babington Macaulay born?

Q9. With an essay on which figure did Macaulay open a career of extraordinary success in August 1825?

Q10. In what role did Macaulay serve in India from 1834 to 1838?

Q1. To what peerage was Thomas Babington Macaulay raised after many years of public life?

Q2. What was Macaulay's chief literary work in his later years?

Q3. In what year were the first two volumes of Macaulay's History published?

Q4. How did the public respond to the first volumes of Macaulay's History?

Q5. In what year was the fifth and final volume of Macaulay's History issued?

Q6. Which of the following is cited as a reason for Macaulay's amazing vogue with the public?

Q7. How is Macaulay's temperament described?

Q8. What attitude did Macaulay have toward the 'happy materialism' of his age?

Q9. What quality of Macaulay's work made it easy for readers to understand him?

Q10. How is Macaulay's style characterized?

Q1. Into what was Macaulay often led by his love of sweeping statements and striking contrasts?

Q2. What did Macaulay arguably achieve more than any other writer through his essays?

Q3. Who was Matthew Arnold's father?

Q4. What academic position did Matthew Arnold hold at Oxford from 1857 to 1867?

Q5. In what capacity did Matthew Arnold work hard from 1855 until near his death?

Q6. Into what two natural divisions does Arnold's prose fall?

Q7. How did Arnold essentially regard literature?

Q8. How did Arnold define criticism in practice?

Q9. What was Arnold's task as a critic of life in works like Culture and Anarchy?

Q10. In Literature and Dogma, Arnold undertook to reconstruct essential Christianity on what basis?

Q1. What extraordinary gift did Matthew Arnold have in his prose writing?

Q2. Which writer attempted to explain human progress entirely by natural causes and general laws in his History of Civilisation in England?

Q3. What practice did many Victorian historians adopt, partly due to Macaulay's example?

Q4. Who wrote the solid piece of work titled The History of the Norman Conquest?

Q5. Who authored the laborious series of volumes on the period of the Stuarts and the Civil War?

Q6. Who wrote the History of England in the Eighteenth Century?

Q7. Whose Short History of the English People admirably exemplifies the method of concentration in historical writing?

Q8. The strong democratic influence of the time is apparent in Green's history because it focuses on what instead of just kings and wars?

Q9. Who wrote the seven volumes on The Renaissance in Italy, which serves as a link between history and aesthetic criticism?

Q10. What is noted as a flaw in John Addington Symonds' work on The Renaissance in Italy?

Q1. Who was the most important writer in aesthetic criticism after Ruskin, known for his highly elaborated, slowly produced style?

Q2. Which of the following is a work of philosophical romance by Walter Pater?

Q3. Who wrote the collection of biographical studies titled Hours in a Library?

Q4. Why is little confidence placed in Swinburne's judgment in literary criticism?

Q5. Which novelist contributed essays such as Familiar Studies of Men and Books and Virginibus Puerisque?

Q6. The popularisation of knowledge led to literature where scientific subjects were handled for whom?

Q7. Which two famous scientists proved themselves masters in the art of luminous exposition for the general reader?

Q8. Whose lectures and essays were so wide and deep in influence that he is regarded as the most dominating personality in literature after Carlyle?

Q9. Who wrote of nature with rare powers of observation in books like The Gamekeeper at Home and The Amateur Poacher?

Q10. What is the title of John Richard Jefferies' fascinating account of his inner experiences and development?

Q1. What form of literature became incomparably the most popular with the great and ever-increasing general reading public in the Age of Tennyson?

Q2. The popularity of the novel in the Age of Tennyson can partly be explained by the principle of what?

Q3. In addition to being a means of amusement, what did the novel become due to its breadth and elasticity?

Q4. Writers of different schools of thought used the novel to embody their what?

Q5. The novel was found to lend itself equally well to the purposes of writers having what?

Q6. It was inevitable that the novel would come to reflect all the forces shaping what?

Q7. According to the text, what made the novel realistic?

Q8. The novel's prominence in the Age of Tennyson absorbed a very large part of the era's what?

Q9. Which period's social significance of prose fiction was pointed out prior to discussing the Age of Tennyson?

Q10. The novel's freedom allowed each new practitioner to do what?

Q1. The Victorian novel is described as an index of the many-sided interests and conflicting elements of what age?

Q2. What well-marked tendency in Victorian fiction is noted, leading to subdivision of labour and interests?

Q3. According to the text, the subdivision of the novel frequently followed what kinds of lines?

Q4. It is largely through these subdividing tendencies that prose fiction has become practically coextensive with what?

Q5. Who are the three chief novelists of the Victorian time mentioned as the primary focus of the survey?

Q6. In what year did Charles Dickens spring suddenly into fame with the Pickwick Papers?

Q7. At what age did Charles Dickens find himself the most popular of English novelists?

Q8. Charles Dickens began as a follower of the traditions of which earlier novelist, whom he had read as a child?

Q9. Dickens's early novels like Pickwick and Nicholas Nickleby are described as what?

Q10. Which period's social significance of prose fiction was pointed out in earlier sections?

Q1. Which of Dickens's novels is said to open his second period due to its systematic attempt at a coherent plot?

Q2. In what years was Bleak House published?

Q3. Despite changing his structural method, what element is still present in Dickens's later books like Little Dorrit and Great Expectations?

Q4. In what field did Dickens's great achievements in characterisation largely lie?

Q5. What is admitted about Dickens's characterisation?

Q6. To which other writer in English literature is Dickens compared in terms of creating so many men and women who have become permanent elements of humorous tradition?

Q7. What was considered Dickens's principal fault?

Q8. What genre did Dickens love, which often became too theatrical in his work?

Q9. Dickens's novels belong entirely to which movement of the Victorian era?

Q10. How is Dickens described in relation to his themes from first to last?

Q1. Through his enormous popularity, what did Dickens's humanitarianism make him?

Q2. Despite recognizing the many evils of the world, what attitude did Dickens maintain?

Q3. In contrast to Dickens's world of the lower classes, what was the world of William Makepeace Thackeray?

Q4. What is the title of Thackeray's first really successful and most characteristic book?

Q5. Where did the phrase 'Vanity Fair' originate?

Q6. What is the sub-title of Vanity Fair, which points to the foundation principles of his art?

Q7. Thackeray was essentially a social satirist and a what?

Q8. Thackeray's attacks upon snobbery and humbug parallel the denunciations of which great moral teacher?

Q9. Why did Thackeray consciously rupture with romanticism in fiction?

Q10. In reacting against the romantic tradition, what did Thackeray practically make the pith and substance of his stories?

Q1. Which of Thackeray's books deals almost exclusively with the sordid and ugly aspects of life?

Q2. What element gained in prominence and importance in Thackeray's works after Vanity Fair (e.g., in Pendennis, Esmond)?

Q3. How is Thackeray's general view of existence described, in contrast with Dickens's?

Q4. What phrase states the text of Thackeray's many moralisings?

Q5. In what was Thackeray's interest always centred?

Q6. Which of Thackeray's novels is considered one of the very finest historical novels in the language, recreating the early eighteenth century?

Q7. What was the pen-name of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans?

Q8. In the hands of George Eliot, what did the novel become?

Q9. What world did George Eliot mostly depict in her novels?

Q10. In which novel did George Eliot make an excursion into the past—a tale of the Renaissance in Florence?

Q1. George Eliot's work superficially resembles that of which earlier writer in its representation of men and manners in country towns?

Q2. Unlike Jane Austen, what was George Eliot concerned with beneath the surface of seemingly dull existence?

Q3. With her power of weaving poignant tragedy out of home-spun materials, George Eliot is described as an exponent of what movement in literature?

Q4. Which character's pitiful story in Adam Bede is cited as an example of George Eliot weaving tragedy out of home-spun materials?

Q5. What distinctive philosophic element in George Eliot's work connects her with the tendencies of her age?

Q6. What unique quality did George Eliot bring to her novels, beginning her career late in life?

Q7. George Eliot's novels are described not as light literature but as great what?

Q8. What was habitually the central theme of George Eliot's works?

Q9. What movement in the story commonly made George Eliot's books profoundly sad?

Q10. What tendency, which grew upon her as her creative faculty waned, proved extremely detrimental to George Eliot's posthumous fame?

Q1. Which later novel of George Eliot is described as being almost choked by science and psychology?

Q2. Which novelist, with no claim to rank as a literary artist, is mentioned as our raciest and most amusing novelist of the sea?

Q3. Which of the following is a novel by Captain Frederick Marryat?

Q4. Who wrote the sensational novel Pelham in 1828?

Q5. Which of the following is a historical romance by Edward Bulwer Lytton?

Q6. How is Edward Bulwer Lytton's writing often characterized?

Q7. Who wrote the novels Henrietta Temple, Coningsby, and Tancred?

Q8. Which novel by Benjamin Disraeli is an exposure of abuses connected with capital and labour, belonging to the humanitarian movement?

Q9. Who wrote the rambling autobiographical novels Lavengro and The Romany Rye?

Q10. Charles Lever is chiefly remembered today for books of rollicking Irish fun and military adventure, such as which of the following?

Q1. With which writer is social purpose generally dominant in novels like Foul Play and Hard Cash, but whose best book is The Cloister and the Hearth?

Q2. Who wrote the pathetic story of factory life, Mary Barton?

Q3. For which quaint and charming village idyll is Mrs. Gaskell most remembered by readers today?

Q4. Which voluminous writer was a realist of the realists, known for his photographic pictures of early Victorian provincial life?

Q5. In which type of novel was Anthony Trollope at his best, as seen in The Warden and Framley Parsonage?

Q6. Who put an intensity of passion and frankness into the novel Jane Eyre that shocked old-fashioned people?

Q7. Which sister's chief work is considered the masterpiece Wuthering Heights?

Q8. Who was an enthusiastic disciple of Carlyle and an ardent social reformer who wrote Alton Locke and Yeast?

Q9. What are Charles Kingsley's two finest works as literature, both historical novels?

Q10. Who has his standing secure in English fiction as our greatest master of sensation and plot?

Q1. Under whose influence did Dickens reportedly change from the inorganic to the organic type of story?

Q2. Which author wrote the spirited Exmoor romance, Lorna Doone?

Q3. To whose school of writing may Sir Walter Besant be roughly said to belong due to his strong humanitarianism and direct social purpose?

Q4. Which of the following is a capital eighteenth-century story by Sir Walter Besant?

Q5. Although never widely popular, who is now acknowledged as one of the greatest English writers of fiction, author of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel?

Q6. Which novelist perhaps more than any other man of his generation led the way from realism back to romance?

Q7. Which of the following is considered hall-marked for immortality and written by Robert Louis Stevenson?

Q8. Together with whom did Stevenson carry on the finest traditions of fiction till well on towards the end of the Victorian period?

Q9. In the Table of the Age of Tennyson, in what year is Tennyson's Poems recorded?

Q10. According to the Table, when did Dickens's Pickwick Papers appear?

Q1. In what years was Thackeray's Vanity Fair published according to the Table?

Q2. What year was Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre published according to the Table?

Q3. According to the Table, in what year did Macaulay's History begin its publication?

Q4. Who published Alton Locke in 1850 according to the Table?

Q5. When was Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh published according to the Table?

Q6. What work of George Eliot's is listed in the Table for the year 1859?

Q7. What work of George Meredith's is listed for the year 1859?

Q8. According to the Table, Swinburne's Poems and Ballads were published in what year?

Q9. Who is recorded as dying in 1880 in the Table?

Q10. What book did Stevenson publish in 1881 according to the Table?

Q1. According to the Table of the Age of Tennyson, in what year did Thomas Carlyle die?

Q2. In what year did Dante Gabriel Rossetti die according to the Table?

Q3. According to the Table, in what year did Anthony Trollope die?

Q4. In what year did Matthew Arnold die according to the Table?

Q5. According to the Table, in what year did Robert Browning die?

Q6. In what year did Alfred, Lord Tennyson die according to the Table?

Q7. Who is recorded in the Table as dying in 1894?

Q8. Who is recorded as the last prominent figure to die in the Table, in the year 1900?

Q9. Which two subsequent chapters are referenced at the bottom of the page in a footnote?

Q10. The table chronologically groups major works into which three categories?

Q1. What event in 1887 is taken as a convenient landmark to denote the virtual end of the Age of Tennyson?

Q2. At the death of Tennyson in 1892, what kind of personality remained to interpret the sentiments of the British nation?

Q3. Whose idea of human diversity and complexity attracted the younger generation more than Tennyson's simplicity and unity?

Q4. According to the text, what was dead regarding the old hope in the discovery of One Universal Truth?

Q5. The apparently solid foundations that had sustained the Victorian Age began to what?

Q6. What vastly extended the bounds of thought, speculation, and man's control over Nature in the Victorian Age?

Q7. What was the Age of Hardy period assigned in the text?

Q8. How did the Victorian achievement fare when stripped of meretricious glitter?

Q9. What effect did the enlargement of boundaries have on an influential section of Victorian people?

Q10. Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was described as a proud display of what?

Q1. The period of the Victorian Age at its high noon was second only to which other age?

Q2. According to the text, what is the first lesson of history regarding greatness?

Q3. In periods of relaxation following greatness, what do the 'little geniuses' commonly do?

Q4. Although the forty years between 1887 and 1928 are called the Age of Hardy, was Hardy a modernist or a spiritual director during that time?

Q5. In the last decade of the century, a new group of authors set out to demonstrate that all art is what?

Q6. Who was the foremost of this group (the decadents) in the 1890s?

Q7. Whose theories attracted Oscar Wilde and who found himself the reluctant mentor of the Aesthetic Movement?

Q8. In which book did Walter Pater suggest a tentative philosophy of life arising from cultivating moments of exquisite passion?

Q9. According to Pater's essay, what is the end, rather than the fruit of experience?

Q10. To Pater himself, this philosophy amounted to little more than an interesting intellectual conception; what did it develop into for the young 'decadents'?

Q1. What event in 1895 prevented a balanced appreciation of Oscar Wilde's work at the time?

Q2. What series of dialogues on literature and the arts features Wilde's polished and jewelled prose?

Q3. Which play by Wilde is described as a comedy of manners on a level with Sheridan's best?

Q4. What blemishes Wilde's fairy tales according to the text?

Q5. Which two works are described as affecting but neither touching the absolute depths of sincerity?

Q6. What does the text say Oscar Wilde was incapable of?

Q7. What was Oscar Wilde always doing, even in his agony?

Q8. Who was Oscar Wilde variously represented as following his trial?

Q9. The decadents absurdly considered it an obligation to be familiar with subjects like what?

Q10. What prevented the most intimate display of Wilde's bleeding heart from carrying the conviction of sincerity?

Q1. Who were the artists whose drawings and paintings gave the 1890s a striking part of its typical character?

Q2. Which poet employed the 'décor of the town' and celebrated hectic passions using a symbolistic style based on French poetry?

Q3. Which true poet was on the fringe of the decadent movement but free from its hotter extravagances?

Q4. Who wrote a sequence of four long poems ending with The Testament of John Davidson?

Q5. What do Davidson's Testaments display less of when seen from a distance in time?

Q6. Which two periodicals were founded for the publication of writings and pictures in the mode of the nineties?

Q7. Where are the chief signs of an organized anti-Victorian movement seen?

Q8. In whose works was there from the beginning an implied disagreement with current conventions, apart from Samuel Butler?

Q9. Who wrote Erewhon (1872) and The Way of All Flesh?

Q10. Where did Thomas Hardy pass most of his life?

Q1. What was Thomas Hardy's early training, which gave him intimate knowledge of local churches utilized in his writings?

Q2. What ancient name did Hardy place permanently on the literary map to represent Dorset and the contiguous counties?

Q3. As a writer, what is Hardy described as being?

Q4. Hardy's genius is described as entirely what?

Q5. What does the text say cannot be induced from granite chips (except by a miracle)?

Q6. What is held in right proportion and perspective in most of Hardy's novels, balanced by massivity of scene and unquenchable courage?

Q7. Which chapter of Tess of the D'Urbervilles outraged the religious conscience of 1891 and offends the aesthetic conscience today?

Q8. What happens when an artist says more than exactly enough, according to the text?

Q9. Which novel was Hardy's last, described as fatally injured by ruthlessness?

Q10. What are Sue and Jude never permitted to escape in Jude the Obscure?

Q1. What prevents Jude the Obscure from being the greatest of Hardy's novels according to the text?

Q2. What advice did George Meredith give the young Thomas Hardy regarding his first unpublished novel?

Q3. What negative consequence arose from Hardy taking Meredith's advice too literally?

Q4. Hardy's power to suggest immensity of place was unique; what is described as the dour vastness in The Return of the Native?

Q5. On Egdon Heath, how are the men and women portrayed in relation to the Heath?

Q6. In the use of what element does Hardy bear comparison with the great figures in world literature, though falling short by pursuing it past natural limits?

Q7. However, in the use of what is Hardy unsurpassed, as seen in Tess's christening of her child?

Q8. Hardy was painfully dissatisfied with the age in which he lived and was homesick for what?

Q9. What did Hardy suspect the effect of modern civilization was on people with stout hearts and clear heads?

Q10. What is constantly at war in Hardy's books, where those who feel the alienating touch of school-bred refinement are never happy?

Q1. Beneath the Christian veneer in Wessex, Hardy thought gratefully of the lingering presence of what?

Q2. What did Wessex signify as a symbol in relation to Hardy's whole work?

Q3. Resenting the animosity stirred by Tess and Jude, what did Hardy abandon in 1896?

Q4. Which 1898 collection included Hardy's poem 'Hap', showing his unchanging idea of the ordering of the universe?

Q5. In what massive work did Hardy's idea of the universe reach its final expression?

Q6. What did Hardy believe was behind human destiny instead of an active intelligence or loving God?

Q7. What is the blind and senseless force called in The Dynasts that might one day 'fashion all things fair'?

Q8. What historical event is the subject of The Dynasts, an epic-drama completed in 1908?

Q9. What two traditional forms did Hardy adapt and combine to produce a new and original form in The Dynasts?

Q10. What replaces extended passages of narrative verse in The Dynasts to fill the spaces between scenes?

Q1. How did Hardy feel toward the suffering caused by the clash of dynasts?

Q2. What protective skin was Hardy never able to cultivate?

Q3. Four years after Tennyson's death, upon whom did the laureateship decline?

Q4. How is Alfred Austin described in the text?

Q5. What were the keywords for the first group of poets in the transition period (1892-1913)?

Q6. Which editor and critic fostered the talent of young writers in the Scots Observer and National Observer?

Q7. For which poem, a piece of spectacular fist-shaking against heaven, is W. E. Henley more widely admired?

Q8. Who would have justified the poet laureate's function with dignity had he been appointed to succeed Tennyson?

Q9. Which of the following is an elegy written by William Watson on the death of Tennyson?

Q10. What did William Watson's patriotic lyrics and occasional poems generally show, except when indignation betrayed him?

Q1. Opinions on whose verse are described as still being in a fluid state, with some accounting him impressive and others exasperated?

Q2. What impression do Kipling's soldier tales and poems succeed in giving?

Q3. Which poet, born in 1880, provides immediate pleasure with tunefulness and pictorial emphasis, though some question his permanence?

Q4. Which three poets of this transition period are said to stand apart from the rest?

Q5. Which poet's life was a tangled comi-tragedy of invertebrate will, drugs, penury, and imaginative splendour?

Q6. Who rescued Francis Thompson from match-selling in the London gutters?

Q7. Which famous poem by Francis Thompson is unique for its metaphysical import and magnificently opulent diction?

Q8. What does The Hound of Heaven reveal incandescently?

Q9. What caused Francis Thompson to use words in a manner that gives them the effect of gorgeous vestments at a solemn ritual?

Q10. In other moods, how could Francis Thompson write without relaxing emotional intensity?

Q1. Which poet published only two small books of verse, A Shropshire Lad and Last Poems?

Q2. What characterizes A. E. Housman's philosophic stance in his poetry?

Q3. Housman's art consisted in that most difficult of literary exercises, described as what?

Q4. What did Housman's philosophy encourage the utter abandonment of?

Q5. Housman is the distinction of being the first English poet of importance to shed religious belief without being what?

Q6. What profession did Robert Bridges practice until he was nearly forty?

Q7. Between 1885 and 1905, what did Robert Bridges write that were entirely neglected by the theatres?

Q8. In what year was Robert Bridges appointed Poet Laureate?

Q9. What lengthy philosophical poem did Bridges publish at the end of 1929?

Q10. How was The Testament of Beauty received, despite being much more difficult than his earlier poems?