Literary Criticism Multiple Choice Questions
1. Identify the state festival held every year in honour of the God Dionysus in Greece.
A. great dionysia
B. dionysia
C. phaedrus
D. athenia
Answer: A. great dionysia
2. Choose the work from the choices below that is in the form of scholarly exchanges betweenPlato and his teacher Socrates.
A. protogoras
B. gorgias
C. symposium
D. dialogues
Answer: D. dialogues
3. In which work did Aristotle firmly refute Plato’s pronouncements deriding art, artists andpoetry?
A. de anima
B. poetics
C. metaphysics
D. physics
Answer: B. poetics
4. The pivotal speaker in Republic, Socrates recalls the visit to Piraeus, the port of Athens totake part in the festivities to honour which deity?
A. bendis
B. apollo
C. dionysus
D. cupid
Answer: A. bendis
5. Who is the young half-brother of Plato whose name means “owl” or “gleaming eyes”?
A. cephalus
B. aristotle
C. glaucon
D. thrasymachus
Answer: C. glaucon
6. Which book in the Republic ends with the Phoenician myth, which Socrates feels would serveas the effective mythical explanation for their State
A. first
B. fourth
C. second
D. third
Answer: D. third
7. Who attempts to define a philosopher and introduces the Theory of Forms?
A. plato
B. socrates
C. aristotle
D. longinus
Answer: B. socrates
8. Which form of government is based primarily on wealth?
A. timocracy
B. oligarchy
C. democracy
D. tyranny
Answer: B. oligarchy
9. The Republic concludes with Socrates’ vibrant description of the tale of which hero?
A. er
B. ulysses
C. telemachus
D. achilles
Answer: A. er
10. Who mentions: “God is not the author of all things, but of good only”
A. plato
B. glaucon
C. socrates
D. adeimantus
Answer: C. socrates
11. Whose verses does Socrates criticise because of the uneven blend of narrative, especially thespeeches of the characters in Iliad that also employ mimesis or imitation?
A. hesiod
B. homer
C. aeschylus
D. sophocles
Answer: B. homer
12. Which genre, according to Aristotle is divided into the epic and the dramatic according to themanner of its imitation?
A. poetry
B. drama
C. prose
D. fiction
Answer: A. poetry
13. Which type of drama, according to Aristotle is considered a representation of characters of abase type, which means ridiculous?
A. farce
B. tragicomedy
C. satire
D. comedy
Answer: D. comedy
14. Which chapter of Aristotle’s Poetics discusses the construction of an ideal plot, which isfundamental to tragedy?
A. sixth
B. seventh
C. eighth
D. ninth
Answer: B. seventh
15. What is the Greek term for “resolution of complication”?
A. perepeteia
B. anagnorisis
C. denouement
D. catharsis
Answer: C. denouement
16. Which is the entire part of a tragedy placed between the complete choric songs, in thedivisions of a tragedy when staged?
A. parode
B. episode
C. exode
D. stasimon
Answer: B. episode
17. Whose misfortunes should an ideal plot depict?
A. hero
B. antagonist
C. chorus
D. family
Answer: A. hero
18. Which unity has not been mentioned by Aristotle?
A. time
B. action
C. place
D. all these
Answer: C. place
19. Whose plays are considered the primary models of artistic unity, dramatic construction andthe author’s role in the epic by Aristotle?
A. aristophanes
B. virgil
C. sophocles
D. homer
Answer: D. homer
20. Which kind of poetry has been ignored because Aristotle considers it more suited to musicthan poetry?
A. ode
B. lyric
C. sonnet
D. dramatic monologue
Answer: B. lyric
21. What is the structure of Longinus’ “On the Sublime”?
A. epistolary
B. narrative
C. Answer:
D. discursive
Answer: A. epistolary
22. What is the excessive use of verbal ornamentation that obstructs the natural use of languageand hence it should be avoided?
A. grandiloquence
B. puerility
C. elaboration
D. exaggeration
Answer: A. grandiloquence
23. How many sources of sublimity are mentioned by Longinus?
A. four
B. three
C. five
D. two
Answer: C. five
24. Which figure of speech is useful in heightening expression, in the opinion of Longinus?
A. hyperbation
B. periphrasis
C. asyndeton
D. none of these
Answer: C. asyndeton
25. When was the pastoral romance Arcadia was published?
A. 1579
B. 1576
C. 1575
D. 1580
Answer: A. 1579
26. What does the word vates mean?
A. building
B. a seer
C. coward
D. disciple
Answer: B. a seer
27. Who mentions “as is painting so is poetry”?
A. virgil
B. homer
C. dante
D. horace
Answer: D. horace
28. Which edition of the Preface is considered important because of the explanation of the natureand characteristics of the poet, and his superiority over the man of science?
A. 1802
B. 1800
C. 1815
D. none of these
Answer: A. 1802
29. Who is the author of Defence of Poetry?
A. coleridge
B. keats
C. shelley
D. mathew arnold
Answer: C. shelley
30. Who mentions: “Every great poet is a teacher; I wish either to be considered as a teacher or as anothing”.
A. william wordsworth
B. lord byron
C. edmund spenser
D. robert herrick
Answer: A. william wordsworth
31. Which critic published his classroom lectures and his ideas along with the dictums of the other critics regularly in Scrutiny?
A. raman selden
B. f.r.leavis
C. henry james
D. joseph conrad
Answer: B. f.r.leavis
32. Who among the following is recognised one of “the great English novelists”?
A. charlotte bronte
B. emily bronte
C. jane austen
D. henry fielding
Answer: C. jane austen
33. Which critic is of the opinion that though Charles Dickens possesses the vitality and vision ofart as Conrad does, he cannot be included “in the line of great novelists”?
A. george santayana
B. t.s.eliot
C. d.h. lawrence
D. f.r.leavis
Answer: D. f.r.leavis
34. Whose first book of poems Prufrock and Other Observations was published in 1917?
A. robert browning
B. t.s.eliot
C. alfred tennyson
D. john keats
Answer: B. t.s.eliot
35. Locate T.S. Eliot’s full length book of essays on poetry and criticism.
A. the sacred wood: essays on poetry and criticism
B. the egoist
C. tradition and the individual talent
D. the art of t.s.eliot
Answer: A. the sacred wood: essays on poetry and criticism
36. Identify the author of The Well-Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry (1947)
A. william k. wimsatt
B. cleanth brooks
C. joel e.spingarn
D. yvor winters
Answer: B. cleanth brooks
37. What is referred as the analysis of the figurative elements such as images, similes, metaphors,symbols, and myth that unify a work?
A. contrapuntal reading
B. imagery
C. close reading
D. fallacy
Answer: C. close reading
38. Who wrote the essay “The Critical Monism of Cleanth Brooks”?
A. r.s.crane
B. elder olson
C. robert penn warren
D. richard mckeon
Answer: A. r.s.crane
39. Under which method of analysis, does the critic proceed to ascertain the meaning of a workfrom the general truth to the particular one?
A. deductive
B. inductive
C. formalist
D. archetypal
Answer: A. deductive
40. What is referred as the proper knowledge of language that helps to satisfy desires?
A. rasa
B. natyashastra
C. kamadhenu
D. dhwani
Answer: C. kamadhenu
41. Which is the earliest systematic work on Indian dramaturgy?
A. kavyalankara
B. natyashastra
C. kavyadarsha
D. nirupana
Answer: B. natyashastra
42. Who critiqued the sphota doctrine of the grammarians and the Buddhist linguistic doctrine ofapoha?
A. dandin
B. abhinavagupta
C. udbhata
D. bhamaha
Answer: D. bhamaha
43. Which critic gave great importance to the gunas and doshas (merits and defects) in poetry?
A. kalidasa
B. anandavardhana
C. dandin
D. rajashekhara
Answer: C. dandin
44. Who is the most authoritative exponent of Pratyabhijna philosophy that is centered on Kashmiri Shaivism?
A. abhinavagupta
B. anandavardhana
C. kshemendra
D. bhoja
Answer: A. abhinavagupta
45. Who is the Kashmiri scholar whose Vakroktijivita is famous for the Answer: of vakrata(indirection or obliqueness) in expression in poetry?
A. anandavardhana
B. rajashekhara
C. abhinavagupta
D. kuntaka
Answer: D. kuntaka
46. Which tailanga scholar who was a prominent poet in the court of the Mughal emperor ShahJahan, was conferred the title Panditaraja?
A. jagannatha
B. mahimabhatta
C. kshemendra
D. bhoja
Answer: A. jagannatha
47. In which work by Vamana was the word sahrudaya used first in the technical sense of acompetent reader of poetry?
A. agnipurana
B. dwanyaloka
C. kavyaloka
D. kavyalamkara
Answer: D. kavyalamkara
48. Which category of prathibha refers to the creative ability of the poet?
A. karayitri
B. bhavayitri
C. abida
D. anumana
Answer: A. karayitri
49. Who mentions “vakyam rasatmakam kavyam”, which means any composition which givestasteful pleasure is poetry?
A. kshemendra
B. bhattalolatta
C. mammata
D. jagannatha
Answer: D. jagannatha
50. Which Indian critical theory concentrates on emotive expression?
A. rasa
B. abida
C. anumana
D. kavya
Answer: A. rasa
51. Which theory in Indian aesthetics theory connotes indirect or suggestive expression?
A. alamkara
B. dhwani
C. kavya
D. aswad
Answer: B. dhwani
52. Who was the first dramatist to recognise the importance of rasa in aesthetics?
A. kalidasa
B. jagannatha
C. bharatamuni
D. purandaradasa
Answer: C. bharatamuni
53. Which term in Indian aesthetics refers to the objective conditions or reasons for producing orexciting an emotion, which is also the main stimulating cause or the object of the emotion?
A. bhava
B. samyoga
C. anubhava
D. vibhava
Answer: D. vibhava
54. Who pointed out the major drawbacks in Bhattalolatta’s theory in relation to vibhava and rasa?
A. mammata
B. shankuka
C. kalidasa
D. bharata
Answer: A. mammata
55. Identify the theory by Bhattanayaka that projects the experiential aspect related to emotions,which is also known as the enjoyment theory?
A. rasa
B. bhuthivada
C. anumitivada
D. pracya nyaya
Answer: B. bhuthivada
56. Which term in Indian aesthetics refers to the process of Generalisation?
A. bhavakatva
B. tamas
C. sattva
D. sadharanikarana
Answer: D. sadharanikarana
57. Which aspect helps the sahrdaya or the aesthetically sensible person to see the characterspresented in a literary work in a generalised manner?
A. denotation
B. imagination
C. inference
D. connotation
Answer: B. imagination
58. Who among the following validates how the poetic language triggers the aesthetic processthrough its suggestiveness?
A. mammata
B. bhattanayaka
C. anandavardhana
D. abhinavagupta
Answer: D. abhinavagupta
59. Which term is used by Abhinava gupta to denote “relating”, “narrating” or “describing” emotive conditions.
A. bhavanukirtanam
B. anumana
C. bhavaktwa
D. bhojakatwa
Answer: A. bhavanukirtanam
60. Which word is used to denote not only the special aesthetic pleasure and the outward manifestation of artistic experience but also the mental faculty which makes aesthetic experience possible.
A. rasavaga
B. alaukika
C. chamatkara
D. charvana
Answer: C. chamatkara
61. Which term used by Bharata means a spectator?
A. rupaka
B. prekshaka
C. sahrudaya
D. bhavana
Answer: B. prekshaka
62. Which term refers to any hindrance to aesthetic relish, the impediment that could be effectedby poetry, the actor, or the reader.
A. rasa
B. bhayanaka
C. rasavighna
D. hasya
Answer: C. rasavighna
63. What is the literal meaning of the word dhwani?
A. sound
B. explosion
C. phonetics
D. phonology
Answer: A. sound
64. What is the source of dhwani theory?
A. sphota theory
B. theory of rasa
C. rasadhwani
D. lochana
Answer: A. sphota theory
65. Which Indian grammarian discussed the concept of dhwani in a systematic manner?
A. mammata
B. shankuka
C. patanjali
D. none of these
Answer: C. patanjali
66. Who opposed the theory of dhwani on the ground there was no meaning in inventing a new power for words since dhwani was subordinate to anumana?
A. bhattanayaka
B. mahimabhatta
C. jagannatha
D. abhinavagupta
Answer: B. mahimabhatta
67. What is the term used to refer to pictorial poetry?
A. chitrakavya
B. chitra
C. shloka
D. kavya
Answer: A. chitrakavya
68. Which word refers to the primary power of signification existing in words that is capable ofproviding the literal or lexical meaning?
A. lochana
B. anugraha
C. abida
D. pada
Answer: C. abida
69. Which term by Kuntaka is used to include dhwani as a mode of varkroti ?
A. upacharavakrata
B. vakrata
C. nirupana
D. lakshana
Answer: A. upacharavakrata
70. Which is the variety of dhwani accepted by Kuntaka that includes the employment of words ofdouble meaning
A. artha
B. shabda
C. shabdashaktimoola
D. rupa
Answer: C. shabdashaktimoola
71. In the opinion of Aristotle, whose plays are the primary models of artistic unity, dramaticconstruction?
A. homer
B. virgil
C. sophocles
D. dante
Answer: A. homer
72. What is considered superior to the epic since it contains all the elements that give pleasurealong with music and spectacle?
A. comedy
B. tragedy
C. tragicomedy
D. none of these
Answer: B. tragedy
73. To whom does Longinus write “On the Sublime”, which is in the form of letters?
A. aristotle
B. cecilius
C. postumius terentianus
D. plato
Answer: C. postumius terentianus
74. Who is the author of The Art of Rhetoric (1553) that could be regarded the first moderntreatise on English composition?
A. thomas wilson
B. thomas hardy
C. f.r.leavis
D. t.s.eliot
Answer: A. thomas wilson
75. According to Sir Philip Sidney, which kind of poetry evokes pity because it deals with theweakness of mankind and the desolation of the world.
A. lyric
B. elegiac poetry
C. tragedy
D. dramatic monologue
Answer: B. elegiac poetry
76. Who considers Hard Times “a moral fable” with a definite intention that exhibits satiric ironyin the first two chapters of his book The Great Tradition?
A. thomas hardy
B. t.s.eliot
C. f.r.leavis
D. charles dickens
Answer: C. f.r.leavis
77. Which play of Shakespeare does Northrop Frye use to explicate the inductive method ofanalysis?
A. othello
B. king lear
C. hamlet
D. macbeth
Answer: C. hamlet