All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

• A. ruinous condition.
• B. performing bears.
• C. graffiti.
• D. bookshops.

Explanation: St Paul's Churchyard was a major centre of the early London book trade, surrounded by booksellers and publishers.

• A. the growing authority of the Pope over domestic English affairs
• B. the expansion of England's colonial possessions
• C. the rise in the power and confidence of the aristocracy
• D. the countering of feudal power structures by a stronger central authority

Explanation: The Tudors strengthened the monarchy and weakened independent feudal power, bringing England under more effective central control.

• A. It was aimed primarily at sons of the nobility and gentry.
• B. Its curriculum emphasized ancient Greek, the language of diplomacy, professions, and higher learning.
• C. It was conducted by tutors in wealthy families or in grammar schools.
• D. It was ordered according to the medieval trivium and quadrivium

Explanation: Renaissance education did study Greek, but Latin remained the main language of diplomacy, professional life, and higher learning.

• A. lead poisoning contracted from handling printer's ink
• B. the brutal punishment for printing without a license
• C. the pre-Reformation ban on printing the Bible in English
• D. the perception among court poets that printed verses were less exclusive

Explanation: The stigma of print refers to the courtly belief that printing made poetry widely available and therefore less private, prestigious, and…

• A. 1300 to 1350
• B. 1337 to 1453
• C. 1302 to 1343
• D. none of the above

Explanation: The Hundred Years’ War traditionally dates from 1337 to 1453, although the fighting was interrupted by long periods of peace.

• A. Their leaders were Lollards, advocating radical religious reform.
• B. The common people were still essentially pagan.
• C. They believed that writing, a skill largely confined to the clergy, was a form of black magic
• D. The church was among the greatest of oppressive landowners.

Explanation: The rebels resented the Church because it was one of the largest landowners and was seen as part of the oppressive social order.

• A. Alfred
• B. Richard III
• C. Richard II
• D. Ethelbert

Explanation: Æthelberht of Kent is generally regarded as the first English king to convert to Christianity, after Augustine’s mission reached Kent in…

• A. the Anglo-Saxon Conquest beginning in the 1450s.
• B. the Norman Conquest of 1066.
• C. the Peasant Uprising of 1381.
• D. the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.

Explanation: The Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in the 1530s led to the destruction, dispersal, or neglect of many manuscripts held in…

• A. a work derived from a Latin text of the Roman Empire
• B. a story about love and adventure
• C. a Roman official
• D. a work written in the French vernacular

Explanation: The Old French word roman originally referred to a work written in the Romance, or French vernacular, rather than in Latin.

• A. Romantic love is a guiding principle of moral conduct.
• B. Its formal and dignified use of speech was distant from everyday use of language.
• C. Irony is a mode of perception, as much as it was a figure of speech.
• D. Christian and pagan ideals are sometimes mixed

Explanation: Old English poetry is shaped by heroic, Christian, and pagan values, not by romantic love as a moral principle.

• A. Latin
• B. Dutch
• C. French
• D. Celtic

Explanation: Anglo-Norman England used Latin, French, English, and Celtic languages in different social and regional settings.

• A. Boethius's Consolidation of Philosophy
• B. Saint Jerome's translation of the Bible
• C. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
• D. a code of laws promulgated by King Ethelbert

Explanation: Æthelberht’s law code, issued around 600, is generally regarded as the earliest surviving extended specimen of written Old English.

• A. the Normans
• B. the Geats
• C. the Celts
• D. the Anglo-Saxons

Explanation: The Anglo-Saxons, chiefly Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, began invading and settling southwestern Britain around 450.

• A. tenth
• B. eleventh
• C. twelfth
• D. fourteenth

Explanation: English regained official use gradually, becoming the language of Parliament and the law courts toward the end of the fourteenth century.

• A. the Battle of Hastings
• B. Saint Patrick's mission
• C. the Fourth Lateran Council
• D. his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine

Explanation: Henry II gained extensive French territories through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who inherited the duchy of Aquitaine.

• A. the Battle of Agincourt
• B. the Battle of Hastings
• C. the Norman Conquest
• D. the War of the Roses

Explanation: Henry V’s early death left the throne to the weak and politically vulnerable Henry VI, contributing to the dynastic struggle that became…

• A. They were written for sophisticated and well-educated readers.
• B. Writing continued to benefit only readers fluent in Latin and French.
• C. Their readers' primary language was English.
• D. A and C only

Explanation: These works show that English writing around 1200 could address sophisticated, educated readers while still being intended for an…

• A. Beowulf
• B. Arthur
• C. Caedmon
• D. Augustine of Canterbury

Explanation: Arthur first appears in Celtic and Welsh literary tradition before becoming the central hero of medieval French, English, and German…

• A. French
• B. Norwegian
• C. Spanish
• D. Hungarian

Explanation: The Norman Conquest brought a French-speaking ruling class to England, so French vocabulary began entering English on a large scale.

• A. Henry II
• B. Henry V
• C. Louis XIV
• D. Edward III

Explanation: Edward III asserted a claim to the French crown through his mother, Isabella, and began the conflict that developed into the Hundred…