I.
Literary History & Movements
1. Who is known as the "Father of English Literature"?
a) Geoffrey Chaucer
b) William Shakespeare
c) John Milton
d) Charles Dickens
2. The Renaissance period in English literature was marked by a revival of interest in:
a) Science and technology
b) Greek and Roman classics
c) Political revolution
d) Medieval traditions
3. The Romantic movement in literature emphasized:
a) Industrial progress
b) Emotion and nature
c) Social realism
d) Scientific discoveries
4. The Victorian period is best characterized by:
a) A focus on individual freedom and imagination
b) Strict morality and social constraints
c) War and political instability
d) Experimental poetry and prose
5. Which literary period is known for its experimental techniques, such as stream of consciousness?
a) Renaissance
b) Romantic
c) Modernist
d) Postmodernist
II. Poetry
6. Who wrote The Canterbury Tales?
a) William Shakespeare
b) Geoffrey Chaucer
c) John Milton
d) Edmund Spenser
7. Which of the following is an example of an epic poem?
a) Paradise Lost
b) The Waste Land
c) Pride and Prejudice
d) The Importance of Being Earnest
8. The famous line "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?" is from which Shakespearean sonnet?
a) Sonnet 18
b) Sonnet 29
c) Sonnet 116
d) Sonnet 130
9. Who is the poet of The Raven?
a) William Wordsworth
b) Edgar Allan Poe
c) Robert Frost
d) Emily Dickinson
10. Which of the following poets was associated with the Romantic movement?
a) T.S. Eliot
b) Lord Byron
c) Ezra Pound
d) Robert Browning
III. Drama
11. Who is the tragic hero in Hamlet?
a) Claudius
b) Polonius
c) Hamlet
d) Laertes
12. Othello is a tragedy written by:
a) Christopher Marlowe
b) William Shakespeare
c) Ben Jonson
d) Thomas Kyd
13. The term "tragic flaw" refers to:
a) A plot twist in a novel
b) The character defect that leads to the downfall of the hero
c) A type of literary genre
d) A poetic device
14. Waiting for Godot, a famous absurdist play, was written by:
a) Arthur Miller
b) Samuel Beckett
c) Tennessee Williams
d) Henrik Ibsen
15. The Greek chorus in ancient drama mainly served to:
a) Introduce the protagonist
b) Provide background information and comment on events
c) Engage in battle scenes
d) Portray the antagonist
IV. Fiction & Prose
16. Which novel features the character Elizabeth Bennet?
a) Jane Eyre
b) Pride and Prejudice
c) Wuthering Heights
d) Great Expectations
17. The novel 1984 by George Orwell explores themes of:
a) Utopian society
b) Totalitarianism and surveillance
c) Romantic love
d) The American Dream
18. Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of which novel?
a) The Catcher in the Rye
b) To Kill a Mockingbird
c) Lord of the Flies
d) Of Mice and Men
19. In To Kill a Mockingbird, who is Atticus Finch?
a) A judge
b) A lawyer
c) A sheriff
d) A schoolteacher
20. The novel Moby-Dick is about:
a) A shipwrecked sailor
b) A captain’s obsession with a white whale
c) A group of pirates
d) A lost civilization
V. Literary Devices & Forms
21. Alliteration is a literary device that involves:
a) Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
b) A direct comparison between two things
c) The use of exaggerated statements
d) The representation of objects as human
22. What is the main feature of free verse poetry?
a) A strict rhyme scheme
b) No regular meter or rhyme
c) A fixed stanza structure
d) Frequent use of metaphor
23. The term "bildungsroman" refers to a:
a) Novel about war
b) Coming-of-age story
c) Satirical essay
d) Detective story
24. A foil in literature is:
a) A protagonist’s enemy
b) A character who contrasts with another to highlight qualities
c) A hidden antagonist
d) A minor background character
25. "Deus ex machina" refers to:
a) A sudden, unexpected resolution in a plot
b) A tragic hero’s downfall
c) A first-person narrator
d) A stream-of-consciousness technique
VI. Literary Figures
26. Who wrote Don Quixote?
a) Miguel de Cervantes
b) Leo Tolstoy
c) Mark Twain
d) Franz Kafka
27. Emily Dickinson is best known for her:
a) Romantic novels
b) Short, introspective poetry
c) Epic poetry
d) Gothic fiction
28. T.S. Eliot is famous for writing:
a) The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
b) The Picture of Dorian Gray
c) Wuthering Heights
d) Jane Eyre
29. The novel Frankenstein was written by:
a) Mary Shelley
b) Charlotte Brontë
c) Emily Brontë
d) Jane Austen
30. Which author is famous for his detective stories featuring Sherlock Holmes?
a) Edgar Allan Poe
b) Arthur Conan Doyle
c) Agatha Christie
d) Charles Dickens
VII. Literary Genres & Themes
31. A fable is a short story that usually features:
a) Ghosts and supernatural beings
b) Mythological gods and heroes
c) Talking animals and a moral lesson
d) Romantic relationships
32. Which of the following is an example of historical fiction?
a) The Scarlet Letter
b) The Catcher in the Rye
c) Frankenstein
d) Gulliver’s Travels
33. The genre satire is best defined as:
a) A type of comedy that relies on slapstick humor
b) A work that ridicules society, individuals, or institutions to expose flaws
c) A collection of love poems
d) A tragic drama
34. The gothic novel is known for its themes of:
a) Adventure and heroism
b) Horror, mystery, and supernatural elements
c) Scientific discoveries and futuristic ideas
d) Social realism and class struggles
35. A soliloquy in a play is:
a) A dramatic speech given by a character alone on stage
b) A conversation between two characters
c) A short song performed by the chorus
d) A humorous interlude
VIII. Famous Literary Works
36. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck focuses on:
a) The American Revolution
b) The Great Depression and migrant workers
c) The Civil War
d) The Industrial Revolution
37. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of Frankenstein, is a:
a) Scientist who creates a monster
b) Warrior who fights mythical beasts
c) Philosopher searching for meaning
d) Sailor lost at sea
38. The main theme of Animal Farm by George Orwell is:
a) The dangers of absolute power and totalitarianism
b) The beauty of farm life
c) The evolution of language
d) The struggles of adolescence
39. Dystopian literature is best described as:
a) Fiction that portrays an ideal society
b) Stories about heroic quests
c) Narratives set in oppressive, controlled worlds
d) Poetry that celebrates nature
40. Which of the following is a work by Jane Austen?
a) Wuthering Heights
b) Great Expectations
c) Sense and Sensibility
d) The Picture of Dorian Gray
IX. Literary Terms & Figures of Speech
41. Metaphor is a literary device that:
a) Uses "like" or "as" for comparison
b) Compares two unrelated things without using "like" or "as"
c) Gives human qualities to non-human things
d) Repeats sounds at the beginning of words
42. Hyperbole is an example of:
a) Understatement
b) Exaggeration for emphasis
c) A serious historical account
d) A logical argument
43. A paradox is a statement that:
a) Contradicts itself but reveals a deeper truth
b) Uses similar-sounding words
c) Is intentionally vague
d) Is meant to be taken literally
44. In poetry, a stanza is:
a) A type of figurative language
b) A grouping of lines
c) A type of rhyme scheme
d) A metrical foot
45. Foreshadowing is used by authors to:
a) Describe past events in a character’s life
b) Provide hints about future events in the story
c) Distract the reader from the main plot
d) Make the ending of the story ambiguous
X. Authors & Literary Traditions
46. Harper Lee is best known for writing:
a) Of Mice and Men
b) The Great Gatsby
c) To Kill a Mockingbird
d) A Tale of Two Cities
47. William Blake was a poet associated with which movement?
a) Romanticism
b) Modernism
c) Realism
d) Naturalism
48. Emily Brontë is the author of:
a) Jane Eyre
b) Pride and Prejudice
c) Wuthering Heights
d) David Copperfield
49. The novel Dracula, which introduced the famous vampire character, was written by:
a) Edgar Allan Poe
b) Bram Stoker
c) Mary Shelley
d) Oscar Wilde
50. Ernest Hemingway is best known for his:
a) Complex, poetic writing style
b) Simple, direct prose style
c) Gothic horror fiction
d) Victorian-era novels
