English Literature MCQs
English Literature MCQs encompass key literary periods, famous authors, genres, and literary techniques. Designed for university students and competitive exams like CSS and lecturers’ tests, these MCQs test knowledge on drama, prose, poetry, and criticism. Whether it's Chaucer, Shakespeare, Romantic poets, or modern literature, the questions help deepen literary analysis and appreciation. Perfect for academic revision and entrance test preparation.
Q: A Shakespeare tragedy ends with
A) Marriage
B) Reconciliation
C) Celebration
D) Death
✅ Correct Answer: D
Explanation: His tragedies typically conclude with the downfall or death of main characters.
Q: Romanticism values
A) Industrialization
B) Rationalism
C) Nature and emotion
D) Uniformity
✅ Correct Answer: C
Explanation: Romanticism embraced emotion, nature, and individualism.
Q: The Globe Theatre is associated with
A) Charles Dickens
B) Jane Austen
C) William Shakespeare
D) Samuel Johnson
✅ Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The Globe was the primary venue for Shakespeare’s plays.
Q: A round character shows
A) No change
B) Only background traits
C) One trait
D) Development
✅ Correct Answer: D
Explanation: Round characters are well-developed and undergo changes.
Q: Samuel Richardson pioneered
A) Tragic poetry
B) Epistolary novels
C) Modernist fiction
D) Allegories
✅ Correct Answer: B
Explanation: He was known for writing novels in the form of letters.
Q: The poem “Dover Beach” was written by
A) Arnold
B) Eliot
C) Hopkins
D) Wordsworth
✅ Correct Answer: A
Explanation: Matthew Arnold composed the melancholic poem "Dover Beach."
Q: The literary term ‘satire’ means
A) Praise
B) Celebration
C) Mockery
D) Description
✅ Correct Answer: C
Explanation: Satire exposes flaws through humor, irony, or ridicule.
Q: The poet of "The Waste Land"
A) William Wordsworth
B) T.S. Eliot
C) W.B. Yeats
D) John Keats
✅ Correct Answer: B
Explanation: T.S. Eliot authored "The Waste Land," a landmark modernist poem published in 1922.
Q: The phrase “willing suspension of disbelief” is associated with
A) Samuel Johnson
B) Matthew Arnold
C) S.T. Coleridge
D) William Blake
✅ Correct Answer: C
Explanation: Coleridge coined this phrase to describe a reader’s acceptance of fiction as reality.
Q: The character of Hamlet is the prince of
A) Norway
B) France
C) Denmark
D) Scotland
✅ Correct Answer: C
Explanation: Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark in Shakespeare’s tragedy "Hamlet."