Free Poetry MCQs with Answers

• A. celebrations of the transience of all life and beauty
• B. celebrations of lesbian sexuality in terms that did not imply a male readership
• C. celebrations of religious ecstasy and divine inspiration
• D. celebrations of female friendship in Platonic terms normally reserved for male Friendships

Explanation: Katherine Philips, known as ‘The Matchless Orinda’, wrote notably about female friendship in elevated, Platonic language traditionally…

• A. George Puttenham
• B. Philip Sidney
• C. Walter Ralegh
• D. Thomas Wyatt

Explanation: Puttenham is chiefly remembered as a writer on poetics and as the author of The Arte of English Poesie, rather than as a courtier.

• A. shepherd and shepherdesses who fall in love and engage in singing contests
• B. heroic stories in epic form
• C. a celebration of the humility, contentment, and simplicity of living in the country
• D. A and C only

Explanation: Pastoral poetry commonly depicts shepherds in idealized rural settings, including love, songs, and singing contests, while also praising…

• A. nostalgia and ill-concealed envy.
• B. bewilderment and visceral loathing.
• C. admiration and elegiac sympathy.
• D. bigotry and shallow triumphalism.

Explanation: The Beowulf poet views the pagan past with admiration for its heroic values but also with elegiac sympathy for a doomed world.

• A. Bede
• B. Sir Thomas Malory
• C. Geoffrey Chaucer
• D. Caedmon

Explanation: Geoffrey Chaucer is called the father of English poetry because he established English as a major literary language and produced the…

• A. his birth date
• B. his death year
• C. his father's name
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer's exact birth date is unknown, although scholars place it around 1340.

• A. Geoffrey of Monmouth
• B. the Gawain poet
• C. the Beowulf poet
• D. Chrétien de Troyes

Explanation: The Gawain poet represents the flowering of Middle English poetry alongside Chaucer and William Langland.

• A. Chaucer's corner
• B. poet's corner
• C. legend's corner
• D. none of the above

Explanation: The section of Westminster Abbey where Chaucer was buried became known as Poets' Corner because many later English poets and writers were…

• A. beating a friar in a London street
• B. for writing poetry against the church
• C. for crossing the border of Great Britain
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer was fined after an assault on a friar in a London street, a biographical detail recorded in accounts of his early life.

• A. a musician
• B. an astronomer
• C. a nun
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer's daughter Elizabeth entered Barking Abbey and became a nun. This is the biographical fact indicated by the option.

• A. leather merchant
• B. civil servant
• C. a vintner
• D. none of the above

Explanation: John Chaucer, Geoffrey's father, was a vintner and wine merchant in London.

• A. Edward III
• B. Henry II
• C. Richard II
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer served under Edward III and Richard II in royal and administrative capacities.

• A. Westminster Palace
• B. Tower of London
• C. St. George's chapel at Windsor
• D. Buckingham Palace

Explanation: Chaucer supervised work at sites including Westminster Palace, the Tower of London, and Windsor.

• A. banishment to Asia
• B. everlasting shame
• C. conversion to Christianity
• D. mild melancholia

Explanation: Anglo-Saxon heroic society treated blood vengeance as a sacred obligation tied to family honour and loyalty.

• A. Dante's Divine Comedy
• B. Boccaccio's Decameron
• C. The Dream of the Rood
• D. Chaucer's Legend of Good Women

Explanation: Dante’s Divine Comedy journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, making it the major medieval poem that imaginatively reveals the…

• A. Sir Thomas Malory
• B. Margery Kempe
• C. Geoffrey Chaucer
• D. William Langland

Explanation: Piers Plowman is the major allegorical poem attributed to William Langland.

• A. 1386
• B. 1300
• C. 1343
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer represented Kent in Parliament in 1386, during the period when he was also active as a royal official and poet.

• A. Geoffrey Chaucer
• B. Marie de France
• C. Chrétien de Troyes
• D. b and c only

Explanation: Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes drew on Breton or Celtic storytelling, especially Arthurian and romance traditions.

• A. 4
• B. 1
• C. 0
• D. 2

Explanation: Chaucer is generally credited with four children: Thomas, Lewis, Elizabeth, and Agnes.

• A. 1360
• B. 1357
• C. 1378
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer was captured by the French during the English campaign in France and was ransomed in 1360.