Exercise for English Literature 2
Choose the best answer for each blank.
1.________, the “father of English poetry” and one of the greatest narrative poets of England, was born in
London about 1340.
A.Geoffrey Chaucer
B. Sir Gawain
C.Francis Bacon
D. John Dryden
2.Chaucer died on the 25th October 1400, and was buried in ________.
A.Flanders
B. France
C.Italy
D. Westminster Abbey
3.The progress in industry at home stimulated the commercial expansion abroad. ________ encouraged
exploration and travel, which were compatible with the interest of the English merchants.
A.Henry V
B. Henry VII
C.Henry VIII
D. Queen Elizabeth
4.Except being a victory of England over ________, the rout of the fleet “Armada”Invincible was also the
triumph of the rising young bourgeoisie over the declining old feudalism.
A.Spain
B. France
C.America
D. Norway
5.At the beginning of the 16th century the outstanding humanist ________ wrote his Utopia in which he gave a
profou nd and truthful picture of the people’s suffering and put forward his ideal of a future happy society.
A.Thomas More
B. Thomas Marlowe
C.Francis Bacon
D. William Shakespear
6.Absolute monarchy in England reached its summit during the reign of Queen ________.
A.Mary
B. Elizabeth
C.William
D. Victoria
7.English Renaissance Period was an age of ________.
A.prose and novel
B. poetry and drama
C.essays and journals
D. ballads and songs
8.From the following, choose the one which is not Francis Bacon’s work: ________.
A.The Advancement of Learning
B. The New Instrument
C.Essays
D. The New Atlantics
E.Venus and Adonis
9.“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” This is the beginning line of one of Shakespeare’s ________.
A.songs
B. plays
Cedies
D. sonnets
10.The heroines of Shakespeare’s great comedies, ________ are the daughters of the Renaissance, whose
images and stories will remain a legacy to readers and audiences of all time.
A.Portia
B. Roseland
C.Viola
D. Beatrice
11.Choose the four great tragedies of Shakespeare from the following ________.
A.Hamlet
B. Othello
C.Macbeth
D. King Lear
E.Timon of Athens
12.Which play is not a comedy ________
A.A Midsummer Night’s Dream
B. The Merchant of Venice
C.Twelfth Night
D. Romeo and Juliet
E.As You Like It
13.“Denmark is a prison”. In which play does the hero summarise his observation of his world into such a bitter
sentence ________
A.Charles I
B. Othello
C.Henry VIII
D. Hamlet
14.The works of ________ and the Authorised Version of the English Bible are the two great treasuries of the
English language.
A.Geoffrey Chaucer
B. Edmund Spenser
C.William Shakespeare
D. Ben Johnson
15.In which play does the hero show his profound reverence for man through the sentence: “What a piece of
wok is a man How nobel in reason How finite in faculty” ________
A.Romeo and Juliet
B. Hamlet
C.Othello
D. The Merchant of Venice
16.In 1649, ________ was beheaded. England became a commonwealth.
A.James I
B. James II
C.Charles I
D. Charles II
17.The revolution of 1688 meant three of the following things: ________.
A.the supremacy of Parliament
B.the beginning of modern England
C.the triumph of the principal liberty
D.the triumph of the principle of political liberty
E.the Restoration of monarchy
18.Who of the following were the important metaphysical poets ________
A.John Donne
B. George Herbert
C.John Milton
D. Richard Lovelace
19.Which work was NOT written by John Milton ________
A.Paradise Lost
B. Paradise Regained
C.Samson Agonistes
D. Volpone
20.Paradise Lost is ________.
A.John Milton’s masterpiece
B.a great epic in 12 books
C.written in blank verse
D.about the heroic revolt of Satan against God’s authority
21.John Milton is ________.
A.a great revolutionary poet of the 17th century
B.an outstanding political pamphleteer
C.a great stylist
D.a great master of blank verse
22.From the Old Testament, John Milton took his stories of Paradise Lost, . ________.
A.the creation
B.the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow-angels
C.their defeat and expulsion from Heaven
D.the creation of the death and of adam and Eve
E.the fallen angels in hell plotting against God
F.Satan’s temptation of Eve
G.the departure of Adam and Eve from Eden
23.The finest thing in Paradise Lost is the description of hell, and ________ is often regarded as the real hero of
the poem.
A. God
B. Satan
C. Adam
D. Eve
24.Who is the greatest of the Metaphysical school of poetry ________
A.John Donne
B. George Herbert
C.Andrew Marvell
D. Henry Vaugham
25.________ was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century.
A.The Renaissance
B. The Enlightenment
C.The Religious Reformation
D. The Chartist Movement
26.The main literary stream of the 18th century was ________. What the writers described in their works were
mainly social realities.
A.naturalism
B. romanticism
C.classicism
D. realism
E.sentimentalism
27.The eighteenth century was the golden age of the English ________. The novel of this period spoke the truth
about life with an uncompromising courage.
A.drama
B. poetry
C.essay
D. novel
28.In 1704, Jonathan Swift published two works together, ________ and ________, which made him well-
known as a satirist.
A.A Tale of a Tub
B. Bickerstaff Almanac
C.Gulliver’s Travels
D. A Modest Proposal
29.“Proper words in proper places, makes the true definition of a style.” This sentence is said by ________, one
of the greatest masters of English prose.
A.Alexander Pope
B. Henry Fielding
C.Daniel Defoe
D. Jonathan Swift
30.As a journalist, ________ had learned how to make his reporting vivid and credible by a skillful use of
circumstantial detail. This power to make his characters alive and his stories credible is an inimitable gi
ft.
A.Joseph Addison
B. Daniel Defoe
C.Samuel Richarson
D. Tobias Smollett
31.Which of the following are NOT written by William Blake ________
A.Poetical Sketches
B. Songs of Innocence
C.Songs of Experience
D. Auld Lang Syne
E.The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
F. Prophecis
G.Visions of the Daughters of Albion and America, a Prophecy
32.In the 18th century English literature, the representative poets of pre-romanticism were ________.
A.William Wordsworth
B. William Blake
C.Robert Burns
D. Jonathan Swift
33.The Romantic Age begab with the publication of The Lyrical Ballads which was written by ________.
A.William Wordsworth
B. Samuel Johnson
C.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D. Wordsworth and Coleridge
34.The Romantic Age came to an end with the death of the last well-known romantic writer ________.
A.Jane Austen
B. Walter Scott
C.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D. William Wordsworth
35.The glory of the Romantic Age lies in the poetry of ________.
A.William Wordsworth
B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C.George Gordon Byron
D. Percy Bysshe Shelley
E.John Keats
monarchy36.The English Romantic Age produced two major novelists. They are ________.
A.George Gordon Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley
B.William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C.Walter Scott and Jane Austen
D.Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt
37.Which poets belong to the Active Romantic group ________
A.George Gordon Byron
B. William Wordsworth
C.Percy Bysshe Shelley
D. John Keats
E.John Milton
38.Which poets belong to the Lakers ________
A.William Wordsworth
B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C.John Keats
D. Robert Southey
E.Walter Scott
39.Which of the folloeing were written by Wordsworth ONLY ________
A.To the Cuckoo
B. The Lyrical Ballads
C.Lucy Poems
D. The Solitary Reaper
E.I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
40.The publication of ________ marked the break with the conventional poetical tradition of the 18th century, .,
with classicism, and the beginning of the Romantic revival in England.
A.The Lyrical Ballads
B. The Prelude
C.Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
D. Don Juan
41.As contrasted with the classicists who made reason, order and the old, classical traditions the criteria in their
poetical creations, ________ based his own poetical pr inciple on the premise that “all good poetry is t
he spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.”
A.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
B. George Gordon Byron
C.Percy Bysshe Shelley
D. William Wordsworth
42.________ was the first critic of the Romantic School.
A.William Wordworth
B. Samuel Johnson
C.Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D. Wordworth and Coleridge
43.Which of the following statements is are NOT true about George Gordon Byron ________
A.Byron’s early years had been far from happy for he was born with a clubfoot, in the frequent family scenes his
mother called him “you lame brat.”
B.Byron died in Italy annd was deeply mourned by the Italian people and by all progressive people throughout
the world.
C.The reactionary criticism of the 19th century tried to belittle Byron’s genius and his role in the development of
English literature, but Byron remains one of the most popular English poets both at home and abroad.
D.Since the May 4 Movement in 1919, more and more of Byron’s poems have been translated into Chinese and
well received by the poets and young readers. Byron has now become one of the best-known English poets in our country.
44.In 1805, Wordsworth completed a long autobiographical poem entitled ________.
A.Biographia literaria
B. The Prelude
C.Lucy Poems
D. The Lyrical Ballads
45.________ is regarded as the most wonderful lyricist England has ever produced mainly for his poems on
nature, on love, and on politics.
A.William Wordsworth
B. John Keats
C.George Gordon Byron
D. Percy Bysshe Shelley
46.Which of the following statements is are NOT true about Percy Bysshe Shelley ________
A.Prometheus Unbound is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s masterpiece, a long epic poem.
B.At Eton Percy Bysshe Shelley was known as “Mad Shelley”, for his obstinate opposition to the brutal fagging
system, according to which the younger school-boys were obliged to obey the older boys and bear a great deal of cruel treatment.
C.George Gordon Byron alled Percy Bysshe Shelley “the best and least selfish man I ever knew.”
D.Percy Bysshe Shelley loved the people and hated their oppressors and exploiters.
47.________’s pursuit of beauty in all things bespoke an aspiration after a better life than the sordid reality
under capitalism. His leading principle is: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.”
A.Percy Bysshe Shelley
B. George Gordon Byron
C.William Wordsworth
D. John Keats
48.Choose the four immortal odes written by John Keats. ________
A.Ode to the West Wind
B. Ode to a Nightingale
C.To Autumn
D. Ode on Melancholy
E.Ode on a Grecian Urn
49.Choose the works written by Jane Austen. ________
A.Pride and Prejudice
B. Sense and Sensibility
C.Northanger Abbey    C. Emma
E.Mansfield Park
F. Persuasion
50.In the 19th century English literature, a new literary trend called ________ appeared. And it flourished in the
forties and in the early fifties.
B. naturalism
D. critical realism
51.English critical realism found its expression chiefly in the form of ________. The critical realists, most of
who were novelists, described with vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticised the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint.
B. drama
C.poetry
D. essay
52.The greatest English critical realist novelist was ________, who criticised the bourgeois civilisation and
showed the misery of the common people.
A.William Makepeace Thackeray
B. Charles Dickens
C.Charlotte Bronte
D. Emily Bronte
53.Which of the following writers belong to critical realists ________
A.Charles Dickens
B. Charlotte Bronte
C. Emily Bronte
D. Thomas Hardy
54.________ wrote a number of little sketches of “cockney characters”. He signed them “Boz”, which was his
nickname for his young brother. His first book, Sketches by Boz appeared in 1836.
A.Elizabeth Gaskell
B. William M. Thackeray
C.Charles Dickens
D. Jane Austen
55.________ has been called “the supreme epic of English life.”
A.A Tale of Two Cities
B. David Copperfield
C.Pickwick Papers
D. Oliver Twist
56.The theme underlying ________ is the idea “Where there is oppression, there is revolution”.
A.A Tale of Two Cities
B. David Copperfield
C.Pickwick Papers
D. Oliver Twist
57.In the Victorian Age, poetry was not a major art intended to change the world. The main poets of the age
were ________.
A.Alfred Tennyson
B. Robert Browning
C.Mrs. Browning
D. Robert Burns
E.William Blake
58.The ________ Movement appeared in the thirties of the 19th century. It showed the English workers were
able to appear as an independent political force and were already realising the fact that the industrial bourgeoisie was their principal enemy.
A.Enlightenment
B. Renaissance
C.Chartist
D. Romanticist
59.Which novel is a great satire upon the society and those people who dream to enter the higher society
regardless of the social reality ________
A.A Tale of Two Cities
B. David Copperfield
C.Great Expectation
D. Dombey and Son
60.Charles Dickens takes the French Revolution as the background of the novel ________.
A.A Tale of Two Cities
B. Great Expectation
C.Hard Times
D. David Copperfield
61.________ is often regarded as the semi-autobiography of the author Dickens in which the early life of the
hero is largely based on the author’s early life.
A.Tom Jones
B. David Copperfield
C.Oliver Twist
D. Great Expectation
62.The Bronte sisters are ________. They were all talented writers and all of them died young.
A.Charlotte Bronte
B. Emily Bronte
C.Anne Bronte
D. Jane Austen
E.Catherine
63.Charlotte Bronte produced four novels: ________.
A.Professor
B. Jane Eyre
C.Shirley
D. Villette
E.Agnes Grey
64.Emily Bronte wrote only one novel entitled ________.
A.Wuthering Heights
B. Jane Eyre
C.Emma
D. Agnes Grey
65.Choose the names appear in the novel Jane Eyre. ________
A.Jane Eyre
B. Mr. Rochester
C.Mary Barton
D. Silas Marner
66.Which characters appear in the novel Wuthering Heights ________
A.Heathcliff
B. Catherine
C.Hindley
D. Cathy
E.Hareton
67.In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte ________.
A.pours a great deal of her own experience
C.shows that true love is the foundation of marriage
D.shows that women should have equal rights with men
68.Women novelists began to appear in England during the second half of the ________ century.
A.17th
B. 18th
C.19th
D. 20th
69.Anne Bronte also wrote two novels ________ and ________.
A.Shirley
B. Villette
C.The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall
D. Agnes Grey
70.Which of the following statements are true about Jane Eyre ________
A.One of the central themes of the book is the criticism of the bourgeois system of education.
B.Another problem raised in the novel is the position of women in society.
C.This book is Charlottel Bronte’s best literary production.
D.In this book, the author attacked the greed, petty tyranny and lack of culture among the bourgeoisie and
sympathised with the sufferings of the poor people. Her realism was coloured by petty-bourgeois philanthropy.
71.Most of Robert Browning’s important works, including ________, are written in the form of dramatic
monologue.
A.Dramatic Lyrics
B. Dramatic Romances
C. Men and Women
D. dramatics Personae
72.Thomas Hardy is one of the representatives of English ________ at the turn of the 19th century.
B. pre-romanticism
<-classicism
D. new romanticism
73.Which statement is true ________
A.Thomas Hardy is a famous novelist.
B.Thomas Hardy is also a poet.
C.Thomas Hardy is a critical realist.
D.Fatalism is strongly reflected in Thomas Hardy’ novels.

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