All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

Every English Literature question in the bank, across all chapters, each with the correct answer and a written explanation. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

3,192 questions · page 53 of 160

  • A. the founding of the Jamestown settlement
  • B. the founding of the Plymouth colony
  • C. Henry Hudson's fruitless search for the Northwest Passage
  • D. all of the above

Explanation: All three events fall within James I's reign: Jamestown was founded in 1607, Hudson's voyage occurred in 1609, and Plymouth was founded in…

Correct answer: all of the above
  • A. Pericles
  • B. Genghis Khan
  • C. Richard Lionheart
  • D. Augustus Caesar

Explanation: James I associated himself with Augustus Caesar, the Roman ruler remembered for imperial authority, peace, and cultural patronage.

Correct answer: Augustus Caesar
  • A. John Lilburne
  • B. William Laud
  • C. Roger Williams
  • D. Oliver Cromwell

Explanation: Roger Williams argued for broad religious liberty and separation between civil government and religious belief, extending toleration…

Correct answer: Roger Williams
  • A. abolishing extra-legal taxes and courts
  • B. mounting a revolution and executing the king
  • C. bringing to trial the king's hated ministers, Strafford and Laud
  • D. remaining in session until they themselves agreed to disband

Explanation: The Long Parliament initially sought to curb arbitrary taxation and courts, prosecute ministers such as Strafford and Laud, and prevent…

Correct answer: mounting a revolution and executing the king
  • A. William Shakespeare
  • B. Ben Jonson
  • C. John Donne
  • D. John Milton

Explanation: Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne all produced important work across the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I.

Correct answer: John Milton
  • A. Martin Luther
  • B. John Calvin
  • C. Henry VIII
  • D. Arminius

Explanation: John Calvin developed the doctrine of predestination, teaching that God has already determined who will be saved or damned.

Correct answer: John Calvin
  • A. the abolishment of public plays and sports
  • B. the conversion of the English church to Catholicism
  • C. the adoption of English as the official language
  • D. the consolidation of power in an absolute monarch

Explanation: Parliament moved against public stage plays and certain public sports during the Civil War, partly because they were associated with…

Correct answer: the abolishment of public plays and sports
  • A. William Collins
  • B. William Laud
  • C. William Shakespeare
  • D. William Tyndale

Explanation: William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury under Charles I, promoted High Anglicanism through greater ceremony, ritual, and episcopal…

Correct answer: William Laud
  • A. the Fifth Monarchists
  • B. the Roarers
  • C. the Diggers
  • D. the Ranters

Explanation: The Ranters were radical religious enthusiasts known for ecstatic preaching, extravagant claims, and prophetic ranting.

Correct answer: the Ranters
  • A. Westminster Abbey
  • B. Tower Bridge
  • C. the Houses of Parliament
  • D. Buckingham Palace

Explanation: The Gunpowder Plot aimed to destroy the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605.

Correct answer: the Houses of Parliament
  • A. human reverence for the classics
  • B. the belief that the English were direct descendants of the ancient Greeks
  • C. pride for the vernacular language
  • D. a and c only

Explanation: Renaissance translation was encouraged both by admiration for classical Greek and Roman literature and by confidence that English could…

Correct answer: a and c only
  • A. Archbishop Cranmer
  • B. Catherine of Aragon
  • C. Elizabeth I
  • D. Mary Tudor

Explanation: Mary Tudor, a Roman Catholic monarch, persecuted Protestants during her reign from 1553 to 1558, earning the title ‘Bloody Mary’.

Correct answer: Mary Tudor
  • A. Anne Boleyn
  • B. Martin Luther
  • C. Pope Leo X
  • D. Ulrich Zwingli

Explanation: Martin Luther's 1517 criticism of Church practices, traditionally linked with the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, helped ignite the…

Correct answer: Martin Luther
  • A. ignominy
  • B. unwarranted abuse
  • C. odium
  • D. love

Explanation: The Elizabethan court cultivated a courtly love culture around Queen Elizabeth, presenting her as an idealized and often unattainable…

Correct answer: love
  • A. Tudor
  • B. Windsor
  • C. York
  • D. Lancaster

Explanation: The Tudor dynasty began when Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth in 1485, ending the Wars of the Roses, and continued through…

Correct answer: Tudor
  • A. Atheism
  • B. Protestantism
  • C. Catholicism
  • D. Ancestor-worship

Explanation: Before Henry VIII's break with Rome, Catholicism was the officially recognised religion in England.

Correct answer: Catholicism
  • A. manifest destiny
  • B. extreme unction
  • C. royal absolutism
  • D. constitutional monarchism

Explanation: Royal absolutism describes government in which the monarch claims supreme authority, often justified by the belief that the ruler acts as…

Correct answer: royal absolutism
  • A. Elizabeth II
  • B. Henry IX
  • C. James I
  • D. Charles I

Explanation: Elizabeth I died in 1603 without an heir, so the crown passed to James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.

Correct answer: James I
  • A. Ulster
  • B. the Protectorate
  • C. the Pale
  • D. West Britain

Explanation: The Pale was the area around Dublin where English authority remained most effective in medieval and early modern Ireland.

Correct answer: the Pale
  • A. remained constant.
  • B. fell from 375,00 to barely 100,000.
  • C. doubled from 60,000 to 120,000.
  • D. doubled from 600,000 to 1,200,000

Explanation: London's population grew rapidly during this period, approximately doubling from about 60,000 to 120,000.

Correct answer: doubled from 60,000 to 120,000.