All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

• A. Literary theory involves coming to a precise understanding of a writer's psychology.
• B. Literary theory involves measuring the quality of a literary work.
• C. Literary theory involves considering the publication history of literary texts.
• D. Literary theory involves describing the underlying principles of a literary work.

Explanation: Literary theory examines the concepts and underlying principles through which literary works are produced, interpreted, and understood.

• A. An awareness of the historical circumstances surrounding a text's production
• B. A set of objective criteria for critical analysis
• C. An awareness of the economic circumstances surrounding a literary text
• D. Strict criteria for evaluating the quality of a literary text

Explanation: Formalism treated the literary work as an autonomous object and sought systematic, objective methods for analysing its form and technique.

• A. a feeling of being disconnected from the world.
• B. a sense of something being familiar and foreign at once.
• C. terror at the thought of death.
• D. a realization of one's empowered position in the world.

Explanation: For Freud, the uncanny is disturbing because something is simultaneously familiar and strange, often revealing repressed fears or desires.

• A. Psychological
• B. Formalism/New Criticism
• C. Moral/Philosophical
• D. Historical/Biographical

Explanation: The moral or philosophical approach evaluates literature according to its ethical ideas and effects, so critics may find it overly…

• A. Historical/Biographical Approach
• B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
• C. Formalism
• D. Psychological Approach

Explanation: Formalism interprets a work through its internal features, such as structure, language, imagery, and patterns, rather than its historical…

• A. Plato
• B. Aristotle
• C. Sir Philip Sidney
• D. Sir Thomas More

Explanation: In The Republic, Plato distrusts poetry because imitation can appeal to the emotions and lead people away from truth, so he proposes…

• A. Feminist
• B. Reader Response
• C. Formalist
• D. Mimetic

Explanation: Mimetic criticism judges a work by its relationship to reality, asking whether it is accurate, truthful, or morally sound.

• A. Lisideius
• B. Eugenius
• C. Neander
• D. Crites

Explanation: Neander is generally understood to represent Dryden's own position in the dialogue, defending a balanced view that recognises the…

• A. It includes too few works by non- European writers.
• B. It includes too few works by non-white writers.
• C. It includes too few works by women.
• D. All of the above answers are correct.

Explanation: Critics of the traditional canon point to its disproportionate emphasis on European, white, and male writers.

• A. Historical/Biographical Approach
• B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
• C. Formalism
• D. Psychological Approach

Explanation: The historical-biographical approach connects a work with its author and with the political, economic, and social conditions of its…

• A. Ethics
• B. Metaphysics
• C. Rhetoric
• D. Ars Poetica

Explanation: Aristotle wrote works associated with Ethics, Metaphysics, and Rhetoric.

• A. Female symbols
• B. Phallic symbols
• C. Male symbols
• D. Evidence of an Oedipus complex

Explanation: In Freudian symbolism, concave or receptive forms are conventionally associated with the female body, whereas elongated or projecting…

• A. Virginia Woolf
• B. Elaine Showalter
• C. Mary Wolstencraft
• D. Ellen Mores

Explanation: Elaine Showalter describes three stages in women’s writing as the feminine, feminist, and female stages.

• A. Hélène Cixous
• B. Judith Butler
• C. Lucy Irigaray
• D. Mary Wollstonecraft

Explanation: Mary Wollstonecraft was an early advocate of women’s rights and is commonly regarded as a founder of first-wave feminism.

• A. They must be observed
• B. It is not necessary to observe them
• C. He favours the observance of the Unity of Action only
• D. Their observance depends upon the nature of the theme of the play

Explanation: Sidney strongly supports dramatic unity, especially the unity of action, and also defends the classical restrictions of time and place in…

• A. F.L. Lucas
• B. J K Atkins
• C. Derrida
• D. Hillis Miller

Explanation: The statement “theatre is not a hospital” is attributed to F. L. Lucas in discussions of the purpose and limitations of drama.

• A. T.S. Eliot
• B. Matthew Arnold
• C. Elizabeth Browning
• D. Virginia Woolf

Explanation: Matthew Arnold treated poetry as a serious moral and philosophical activity, requiring “high seriousness” and concern for enduring human…

• A. Carl Jung
• B. Sigmund Freud
• C. Ernest Jones
• D. Erik Erikson

Explanation: Carl Jung coined “collective unconscious” for the inherited layer of the psyche containing shared archetypal patterns.

• A. C.S. Lewis
• B. Virginia Woolf
• C. Matthew Arnold
• D. T.S. Eliot

Explanation: T. S. Eliot introduced “objective correlative” in his essay on Hamlet, describing a set of objects, situations, or events that objectively…

• A. Willy Loman
• B. Arthur Miller
• C. Henry James
• D. David

Explanation: Arthur Miller criticised Aristotle’s elitist assumptions, including what he saw as social snobbishness and arrogance, while defending…