English Multiple Choice Questions and Answers - Set 51 | UGC NET English MCQs

1 Antagonised by what he considered to be the provinciality of the Lake Poets, Byron wrote the preface to which of his works as a rebuke to Wordsworth’s own introduction to “The Thorn” ?

1 The Prisoner of Chillon

2 Don Juan

3 Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

4 The Vision of Judgement

View Answer

Answer: Don Juan

2 Which of the following theoretical movements claimed that “the device is the only hero of literature” ?

1 Russian formalism

2 New Criticism

3 Phenomenology

4 Deconstruction

View Answer

Answer:Russian formalism

3 What part of Canada is Alice Munro most famous for depicting ?

1 Vancouver

2 Montreal

3 Ontario

4 Quebec

View Answer

Answer:Ontario

4 In the opening stanza of “Song of Myself”, Whitman begins his spiritual awakening at the age of ______.

1 37

2 15

3 24

4 61

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Answer: 37

5 In which of the following poems does Tennyson describe and condemn the spirit of aestheticism whose sole religion is the worship of beauty and of knowledge for their own sake and which ignores human responsibility and obligations of one’s fellowmen ?

1 “The Princess”.

2 “The Lady of Shalott”.

3 “The Palace of Art”.

4 “Tithonus”.

View Answer

Answer:“The Palace of Art”.

6 In a poem in memory of Major Robert Gregory, Lady Gregory’s son, W.B. Yeats mentions an Irish writer who had found his inspiration “In a most desolate stony place” that he came “Towards nightfall upon a race/ passionate and simple like his heart.” Who is the writer ?

1 J.M. Barrie

2 J.M. Synge

3 Isaac Bickerstaffe

4 Thomas More

View Answer

Answer:J.M. Synge

7 Jacques Derrida’s work received some criticism from analytical philosophers. Who below was a critic of Derrida ?

1 John Searle.

2 Jean-Francois Lyotard.

3 Emmanuel Levinas.

4 Paul de Man.

View Answer

Answer:John Searle.

8 Who among the following bought and renovated the house of the Anglican poet, George Herbert, near Salisbury, England, in 1996 ?

1 Daljit Nagra

2 Vikram Seth

3 Amitava Kumar

4 Arundhati Roy

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Answer: Vikram Seth

9 As Adam and Eve leave Paradise, “hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow” (Book XII, Paradise Lost) what is their consolation ?

1 They are comforted by their love for one another.

2 They are comforted by their foreknowledge of the coming of Christ as Redeemer of mankind.

3 They are comforted by God, who travels before them in the form of a pillar of fire.

4 They are comforted by the angel, who holds each of them by the hand.

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Answer:They are comforted by their foreknowledge of the coming of Christ as Redeemer of mankind.

10 In An Essay of Dramatic Poesy to whom does Dryden refer with the phrase “he needed not the spectacles of books to read Nature” ?

1 Ben Jonson.

2 Ovid.

3 William Shakespeare.

4 Geoffrey Chaucer.

View Answer

Answer: William Shakespeare.

11 Who among the following African novelists was a student of philosophy and literature in India ?

1 Nuruddin Farah

2 Ben Okri

3 Helon Habila

4 Benjamin Kwakye

View Answer

Answer: Nuruddin Farah

12 Which British King, having defeated the Viking invaders, consciously used the English language to create a sense of national identity and retain political control over independent countries ?

1 Alfred the Great

2 Edward the Elder

3 King Arthur

4 Ethelbert of Kent

View Answer

Answer: Alfred the Great

13 In “Politics and the English Language” George Orwell provides a list of rules to aid in curing the English language. What is the final rule ?

1 Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2 Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3 If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4 Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

View Answer

Answer:Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

14 In his Defence of Poesy what is the “best and most accomplished kind of poetry” in Sidney’s estimation ?

1 Heroical, or epic poetry

2 Lyric poetry

3 Pastoral poetry

4 Elegiac poetry

View Answer

Answer:Heroical, or epic poetry

15 Which writer of the Romantic period makes the following comment : “The poet is far from dealing only with these subtle and analogical truths. Truth of every kind belongs to him, provided it can bud into any kind of beauty, or is capable of being illustrated and impressed by poetic faculty” ?

1 Wordsworth in Preface to the Lyrical Ballads

2 William Hazlitt in “On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth”

3 Leigh Hunt in What is Poetry ?

4 Keats in one of his letters to his brother

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