All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

• A. TS Eliot
• B. Lord Tennyson
• C. Charlotte Bronte
• D. Shakespeare

Explanation: These are the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, one of his best-known poems.

• A. Alliterative verse
• B. Sonnet form
• C. Iambic pentameter
• D. Dactylic hexameter

Explanation: Shakespeare commonly wrote dramatic verse in iambic pentameter, a five-beat line usually alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.

• A. The Epic
• B. The Comic
• C. The Occult
• D. The Tragic

Explanation: Epic, comic, and tragic traditions are established forms or modes in literary history, whereas “occult” is not normally classified as a…

• A. Elizabeth Bishop
• B. Sylvia Plath
• C. Marianne Moore
• D. Laura Jackson

Explanation: The Colossus, published in 1960, was Sylvia Plath’s first published collection of poems.

• A. Sea scenes
• B. Rural Idyll
• C. War
• D. Innocent childhood

Explanation: “Planked Whitefish” uses images associated with conflict and warfare rather than a simple rural or childhood setting.

• A. Dylan Thomas
• B. Ezra Pound
• C. Yeats
• D. E. E. cummings

Explanation: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is one of W. B. Yeats’s best-known poems, expressing a longing for peace and a simple life close to nature.

• A. Betjeman
• B. Hughes
• C. Marvel
• D. Larkin

Explanation: John Betjeman wrote the poem “The Church Mouse,” fitting his interest in English churches, local places, and ordinary religious life.

• A. She rarely left home
• B. She wrote in code
• C. She never attempted to publish her poetry
• D. She wrote her poems in invisible ink

Explanation: Emily Dickinson became famous for her secluded life and rarely left her family home in Amherst.

• A. A funeral
• B. A wedding
• C. Market
• D. To the races

Explanation: The opening of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner places the three young men on their way to a wedding feast.

• A. John keats
• B. Lord Byron
• C. Solan
• D. Sappho

Explanation: Lord Byron supported the Greek struggle for independence and died at Missolonghi in 1824, making him a national hero in Greece.

• A. characters, main idea, and theme
• B. purpose and audience
• C. theme, purpose, form, and mood.
• D. rhyme and reason

Explanation: A poem is shaped by its theme and purpose, while form and mood determine how that meaning is presented and felt.

• A. Sir Walter Scott
• B. William Butler Yeats
• C. Henry Longfellow
• D. Robert Burns

Explanation: “Auld Lang Syne” is traditionally associated with Robert Burns, who adapted and published the Scots song-poem.

• A. hundred years' war
• B. Black death
• C. Peasant revolt
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Geoffrey Chaucer was captured and held for ransom while serving in France during the Hundred Years’ War.

• A. To the shrine of st. Peter at Canterbury cathedral
• B. To the shrine of saint thomas becket at canterbury cathedral
• C. both A and B
• D. None of these

Explanation: The pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales travel to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.

• A. The reformer of English language
• B. The poet of English language
• C. The father of English literature
• D. The father of English language

Explanation: Chaucer is traditionally called the father of English literature because The Canterbury Tales helped establish English as a major literary…

• A. four
• B. six
• C. two
• D. one

Explanation: Chaucer planned for each pilgrim to tell four tales, two on the journey to Canterbury and two on the return.

• A. 1343
• B. 1336
• C. 1432
• D. 1347

Explanation: Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1343, although the exact date is not known.

• A. Troilus and Criseyde
• B. The Canterbury Tales
• C. The Book of the Duchess
• D. The House of Fame

Explanation: The Book of the Duchess, also called The Dream of the Duchess, is generally regarded as Chaucer’s first major poem.

• A. The House of Fame
• B. The Book of the Duchess
• C. Troilus and Criseyde
• D. The Legend of Good Women

Explanation: The Book of the Duchess is an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster, who died in 1369.

• A. The Book of the Duchess
• B. The Canterbury Tales
• C. Parlement of Foules
• D. The Canterbury Tales

Explanation: The Parlement of Foules is associated with Saint Valentine’s Day and contains a debate among birds choosing their mates.