Free Prose and Essayists MCQs with Answers

202 Prose and Essayists MCQs from English Literature, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

Last updated

202 questions · page 2 of 11

  • A. Shakespeare
  • B. Emerson
  • C. Gladstone
  • D. Disraeli

Explanation: The saying is commonly attributed to William Ewart Gladstone, the British statesman.

Correct answer: Gladstone
  • A. Persian
  • B. English
  • C. French
  • D. Italy

Explanation: Firdausi, or Ferdowsi, was the great Persian epic poet who wrote the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings.

Correct answer: Persian
  • A. Ghandhi
  • B. Nehru
  • C. Jinnah
  • D. Abul Kalam Azad

Explanation: *India Wins Freedom* is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's autobiographical account of India's struggle for independence and the events surrounding…

Correct answer: Abul Kalam Azad
  • A. Ruskin
  • B. Lamb
  • C. Mill
  • D. Oscar Wilde

Explanation: On Liberty is John Stuart Mill's major political-philosophical essay, defending individual freedom against unnecessary social or state…

Correct answer: Mill
  • A. Irish
  • B. Scottish
  • C. French
  • D. English

Explanation: Oscar Wilde was Irish, born in Dublin in 1854, although he spent much of his literary career in England.

Correct answer: Irish
  • A. The Time's Literary Supplement
  • B. The Lady's Home Journal
  • C. Strand Magazine
  • D. Reader Magazine

Explanation: Virginia Woolf began contributing to The Times Literary Supplement in 1905, an important early stage in her literary journalism.

Correct answer: The Time's Literary Supplement
  • A. Carlyle
  • B. Macaulay
  • C. Godwin
  • D. Mill

Explanation: John Stuart Mill wrote On Liberty, published in 1859, defending individual freedom against excessive social and political control.

Correct answer: Mill
  • A. William Hazlitt
  • B. Emily Dickinson
  • C. Emily Bronte
  • D. Charles Lamb

Explanation: Essays of Elia is Charles Lamb’s celebrated collection of personal and imaginative essays, published under the persona of Elia.

Correct answer: Charles Lamb
  • A. Thomas Gray
  • B. William Shakespeare
  • C. George Bernard Shaw
  • D. Thomas More

Explanation: Thomas More wrote Utopia, a work describing an imagined ideal commonwealth and using it to criticise the society of his own time.

Correct answer: Thomas More
  • A. Jonathan Swift
  • B. Samuel Johnson
  • C. Oliver 'Goldsmith
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Jonathan Swift wrote The Conduct of the Allies (1711), a political pamphlet attacking the continuation of the War of the Spanish…

Correct answer: Jonathan Swift
  • A. Charles Darwin
  • B. A. Pope
  • C. T. Hardy
  • D. O. Goldsmith

Explanation: Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, presenting his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Correct answer: Charles Darwin
  • A. Shakespeare
  • B. Lamb
  • C. Lawrence
  • D. Mary Anne Evans

Explanation: Charles and Mary Lamb wrote Tales from Shakespeare to retell Shakespeare’s plays in accessible prose for young readers.

Correct answer: Lamb
  • A. Ruskin
  • B. Carlyle
  • C. Mill
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Thomas Carlyle wrote Heroes and Hero-Worship, a series of lectures examining figures such as the hero as divinity, prophet, poet and king.

Correct answer: Carlyle
  • A. Shakespeare
  • B. Chaucer
  • C. Spenser
  • D. Bacon

Explanation: The statement comes from Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Studies,” where reading, discussion, and writing are linked with fullness, readiness…

Correct answer: Bacon
  • A. 9
  • B. 10
  • C. 13
  • D. 15

Explanation: From 1 January 2007, the ISBN system changed from 10 digits to 13 digits to align with the international EAN-13 barcode system.

Correct answer: 13
  • A. Emily Bronte
  • B. Jane Austen
  • C. Robert Browning
  • D. None of these

Explanation: Emily Brontë and Jane Austen were women novelists, whereas Robert Browning was a male Victorian poet.

Correct answer: Robert Browning
  • A. Huxley
  • B. Carlyle
  • C. Ruskin
  • D. Mill

Explanation: Thomas Carlyle wrote On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, a series of lectures examining different types of heroes.

Correct answer: Carlyle
  • A. Albert Einstein
  • B. Stephen Hawking
  • C. Jagadish Chandra Basu
  • D. Isaac Newton

Explanation: Stephen Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time, a popular-science book explaining concepts such as the origin of the universe and black…

Correct answer: Stephen Hawking
  • A. William Wordsworth
  • B. William Shakespeare
  • C. Thomas Grey
  • D. Saki

Explanation: Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, a master of witty and often dark short stories, including “The Story-Teller.” The other…

Correct answer: Saki
  • A. Feeling like an outcast in your own house
  • B. Becoming a stuttering sycophant just to survive
  • C. Wrapping yourself in the armor of anger and resentment
  • D. All of the above

Explanation: Du Bois describes the psychological strain of racism through alienation, forced submissiveness, and the defensive cultivation of anger.

Correct answer: All of the above