Free Literary Movements and Periods MCQs with Answers

• A. it made them more valuable sources of information
• B. it made them seem irrelevant since they separated religious life from worldly life
• C. it made them more important since there were few literate lay worshipers
• D. it made them symbols of the Church's progress

Explanation: As laypeople became more involved in religious practice, monasteries could seem less necessary because they represented a separate…

• A. the idea that community is essential to salvation
• B. the concept of dualism of body and soul
• C. the concept of a sensual God
• D. the idea that God is separate from the human experience of love

Explanation: Both Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Siena describe divine love through intimate, bodily, and sometimes sensual imagery, presenting God…

• A. monks
• B. working class women
• C. working class men
• D. peasants

Explanation: Monks were most likely to be literate because monasteries maintained schools, libraries, and scriptoria for reading and copying religious…

• A. books that established standards of behavior for women
• B. books that were primarily intended to teach men how to treat their wives
• C. books that conformed with strict standards of behavior
• D. books that recounted historical events in the medieval era

Explanation: Conduct books offered rules for proper social and moral behaviour, and many medieval examples specifically instructed women about modesty…

• A. they were never chaste or pious
• B. they always represented the evil side of love
• C. they were sources of inspiration for heroic action
• D. they were examples of mystical unions

Explanation: In courtly literature, the heroine’s beauty and virtue inspire the hero to undertake brave or noble actions.

• A. courtly love
• B. peasant life
• C. praise of chastity
• D. female literacy

Explanation: The Acts of Thecla strongly praises chastity, presenting Thecla’s rejection of marriage and dedication to spiritual life as virtuous.

• A. Margery Kempe
• B. Catherine of Siena
• C. Thecla
• D. Christine de Pizan

Explanation: Christine de Pizan is often called the first feminist because she defended women’s education, dignity, and intellectual ability in works…

• A. it is a union supported by the Church
• B. it is a union between anchorites
• C. it is a mystical union between two people
• D. it is a spiritual union with God

Explanation: In medieval mystical writing, “mystical marriage” is the soul’s spiritual union with God, often described using the language of human love…

• A. the Germanic tribes allowed relationships between family members, while the Church prohibited marriage between relatives
• B. the Church outlawed marriages between children, while Germanic tribes tolerated them
• C. the Germanic tribes tolerated polygamy, while the Church made monogamy the only acceptable type of union
• D. All of the Above

Explanation: Christian marriage law emphasized monogamy and prohibited unions within specified degrees of kinship, while Germanic customs were more…

• A. Richard Rolle
• B. Walter Hilton
• C. Julian of Norwich
• D. All of the Above

Explanation: Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Julian of Norwich are all major English mystics of the later Middle Ages.

• A. poets from France and Italy
• B. men who wrote only in the mystical tradition
• C. the authors of conduct books
• D. heretics persecuted by the Church

Explanation: Troubadours were medieval lyric poets associated especially with southern France and the tradition of courtly love; the tradition also…

• A. they were expected to fix problems in their husbands' absence
• B. they ran the household
• C. they were expected to be religious role models
• D. All of the Above

Explanation: Noblewomen often managed estates and households during their husbands’ absence, while their expected religious conduct made them models…

• A. they lost the ability to be anchoresses
• B. they lost much of their political and economic power
• C. they were able to acquire more political capital
• D. they took on more important roles in the economy

Explanation: As centralized nation-states developed, political authority became concentrated in royal and male-controlled institutions.

• A. Monks memorized many passages of scripture, preserving scriptures.
• B. Scops recited poems to noble audiences, preserving the stories and poetic tradition.
• C. Thegns were nobles who liked literature, and their patronage made poets popular.
• D. Anchoresses recited poems to occupy their time alone in their cells.

Explanation: Scops were Anglo-Saxon poet-singers who performed before aristocratic audiences, transmitting heroic stories and poetic forms orally.

• A. The story of an English village's conversion to Christianity
• B. A first-person story of the Norman invasion
• C. The adventure of a knight who rescues a maiden
• D. A poem that features courtly love but denounces supernaturalism

Explanation: Medieval romance typically combines chivalric adventure, courtly love and quests, often involving a knight who aids or rescues a lady.

• A. Mystical literature suggested the continued link between paganism and Christianity.
• B. Mystical literature prohibited women from writing in the voice of God.
• C. Mystical literature ended the trend of poems in which God was cast as a lover.
• D. Mystical literature provided a place for women to write romantic and religious literature.

Explanation: Mystical writing enabled women such as Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe to express religious experience through intimate, often loving…

• A. King Harold
• B. King Arthur
• C. William the Conqueror
• D. Alfred the Great

Explanation: Alfred the Great commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as part of his programme to preserve English learning and history.

• A. The relationships between knights and ladies
• B. The feudal system
• C. The knight's lack of loyalty to his lord
• D. The conduct of wars and tournaments

Explanation: Yvain explores knightly conduct, love, feudal obligations, warfare and tournaments.

• A. A return to reading poetry from the 11th and 12th centuries
• B. The influence of southern courtly poets writing in French and Latin
• C. A surge in English nationalism
• D. The introduction to new poetic forms during the Norman invasion

Explanation: The alliterative revival is commonly linked with growing English national and cultural identity after the dominance of French literary…

• A. Hrothgar believes it is important to stay focused on revenge.
• B. Pride is one of the deadly sins.
• C. Pride causes one to appear immodest.
• D. Extreme pride can cause one to be overly secure and make mistakes.

Explanation: Hrothgar warns that excessive pride can make a successful person overconfident and careless, leading to serious mistakes or downfall.