Literary Theory And Criticism MCQs

Option A: Psychological

Option B: Formalism/New Criticism

Option C: Moral/Philosophical

Option D: Historical/Biographical

Correct Answer: Moral/Philosophical ✔

Option A: Ferdinand de Saussure

Option B: Viktor Shklovsky

Option C: Roland Barthes

Option D: Michel Foucault

Correct Answer: Ferdinand de Saussure ✔

Option A: Billy Budd

Option B: Hamlet

Option C: Captain Ahab

Option D: Ophelia

Correct Answer: Billy Budd ✔

Option A: New Historicism rejects the idea that history is neutral.

Option B: New Historicism does not make strict delineations between literary and non-literary texts.

Option C: New Historicism takes a particular interest in marginalized peoples.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Copying

Option B: Criticism of life

Option C: Representation

Option D: Interpretation

Correct Answer: Representation ✔

Option A: To represent the relationship between colonizers and the colonized

Option B: To draw attention to the positive effects of colonization on literature

Option C: To explain why there are few examples of successful non-Western literature

Option D: To show the ways in which most Western literature is superior

Correct Answer: To represent the relationship between colonizers and the colonized ✔

Option A: Historical/Biographical Approach

Option B: Moral/ Philosophical Approach

Option C: Formalism

Option D: Psychological Approach

Correct Answer: Formalism ✔

Option A: Plato

Option B: Aristotle

Option C: Sir Philip Sidney

Option D: Sir Thomas More

Correct Answer: Plato ✔

Option A: Examining only female-authored literature more critically

Option B: Considering women’s literature outside of its historical context

Option C: Becoming more familiar with the history of women and women’s writing

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: Becoming more familiar with the history of women and women’s writing ✔

Option A: Greek writer

Option B: Roman Writer

Option C: Italian writer

Option D: English writer

Correct Answer: Roman Writer ✔

Option A: Feminist

Option B: Reader Response

Option C: Formalist

Option D: Mimetic

Correct Answer: Mimetic ✔

Option A: Identify the Mode of Development

Option B: Analysis of the Author

Option C: Subsequent Readings/Reviews

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: Analysis of the Author ✔

Option A: C.S. Lewis

Option B: T.S. Eliot

Option C: G.K. Chesterton

Option D: Matthew Arnold

Correct Answer: T.S. Eliot ✔

Option A: Reject all previous modes of literary theory

Option B: Focus on a return to traditional critical methods

Option C: Make use of different literary theories in order to develop new theories

Option D: Work only with ideas developed by post- Marxist theorists

Correct Answer: Make use of different literary theories in order to develop new theories ✔

Option A: Lisideius

Option B: Eugenius

Option C: Neander

Option D: Crites

Correct Answer: Neander ✔

Option A: It includes too few works by non- European writers.

Option B: It includes too few works by non-white writers.

Option C: It includes too few works by women.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Literary theory engages with theoretical rather than real-world issues.

Option B: Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems of literary interpretation.

Option C: Literary theory relies totally on speculation rather than history.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems of literary interpretation. ✔

Option A: a. It contains secret instincts and desires that are repressed.

Option B: It is the only significant aspect of the human psyche.

Option C: It can never be accessed.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: a. It contains secret instincts and desires that are repressed. ✔

Option A: Historical/Biographical Approach

Option B: Moral/ Philosophical Approach

Option C: Formalism

Option D: Psychological Approach

Correct Answer: Historical/Biographical Approach ✔

Option A: The reader participates in a transaction with the text.

Option B: The reader is acted upon by the text.

Option C: The reader acts upon the text.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Harold Bloom’s “An Elegy for the Canon”

Option B: Jacques Lacan’s “The Mirror Stage . . . ”

Option C: Cleanth Brooks’s “Keats’s Sylvan Historian”

Option D: Edward Said’s Orientalism

Correct Answer: Edward Said’s Orientalism ✔

Option A: The idea of the author came into being at a certain point in history.

Option B: The names of authors serve a classificatory function.

Option C: The author may not always exist.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Ethics

Option B: Metaphysics

Option C: Rhetoric

Option D: Ars Poetica

Correct Answer: Ars Poetica ✔

Option A: Female symbols

Option B: Phallic symbols

Option C: Male symbols

Option D: Evidence of an Oedipus complex

Correct Answer: Female symbols ✔

Option A: T.S. Eliot

Option B: Jacques Lacan

Option C: Jacques Derrida

Option D: Stanley Fish

Correct Answer: Jacques Derrida ✔

Option A: Virginia Woolf

Option B: Elaine Showalter

Option C: Mary Wolstencraft

Option D: Ellen Mores

Correct Answer: Elaine Showalter ✔

Option A: Hélène Cixous

Option B: Judith Butler

Option C: Lucy Irigaray

Option D: Mary Wollstonecraft

Correct Answer: Mary Wollstonecraft ✔

Option A: The Elizabethan Age

Option B: The Neo-Classical Age

Option C: The Romantic Age

Option D: The Victorian Age

Correct Answer: The Neo-Classical Age ✔

Option A: Edmund Husserl

Option B: Wolfgang Iser

Option C: Jean-Paul Sartre

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: They must be observed

Option B: It is not necessary to observe them

Option C: He favours the observance of the Unity of Action only

Option D: Their observance depends upon the nature of the theme of the play

Correct Answer: They must be observed ✔

Option A: The examination of structures informing our conscious experience

Option B: The examination of desires informing our consciousness

Option C: The examination of our unconscious experience

Option D: The examination of intricate structures within our unconscious

Correct Answer: The examination of structures informing our conscious experience ✔

Option A: F.L. Lucas

Option B: J K Atkins

Option C: Derrida

Option D: Hillis Miller

Correct Answer: F.L. Lucas ✔

Option A: A theory that sees history as a form of writing and discourse

Option B: A theory that abandons the idea of history as an imitation of events

Option C: A theory that regards history as a series of narratives

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Women’s gender is artificial, while men’s gender is not.

Option B: While gender is not real, the stereotypes that accompany it are true.

Option C: Gender is largely a cultural construct.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: Gender is largely a cultural construct. ✔

Option A: Preface to the Poems

Option B: On translating Homer

Option C: “Scholar Gypsy”

Option D: Culture and Anarchy

Correct Answer: Culture and Anarchy ✔

Option A: Viktor Shklovsky

Option B: Cleanth Brooks

Option C: Judith Butler

Option D: Mikhail Bakhtin

Correct Answer: Viktor Shklovsky ✔

Option A: T.S. Eliot

Option B: Matthew Arnold

Option C: Elizabeth Browning

Option D: Virginia Woolf

Correct Answer: Matthew Arnold ✔

Option A: No fixed, stable meaning is possible.

Option B: Language must be studied in conjunction with history in order to create meaning.

Option C: Literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: No fixed, stable meaning is possible. ✔

Option A: 16

Option B: 17

Option C: 14

Option D: 15

Correct Answer: 14 ✔

Option A: To miss the mark

Option B: Sin

Option C: Tragic flaw

Option D: Flaws

Correct Answer: To miss the mark ✔

Option A: Carl Jung

Option B: Sigmund Freud

Option C: Ernest Jones

Option D: Erik Erikson

Correct Answer: Carl Jung ✔

Option A: C.S. Lewis

Option B: Virginia Woolf

Option C: Matthew Arnold

Option D: T.S. Eliot

Correct Answer: T.S. Eliot ✔

Option A: Willy Loman

Option B: Arthur Miller

Option C: Henry James

Option D: David

Correct Answer: Arthur Miller ✔

Option A: Elaine Showalter

Option B: Julia Kristeva

Option C: Lucy Irigaray

Option D: Louise M. Rosenblatt

Correct Answer: Elaine Showalter ✔

Option A: As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical context

Option B: As an aesthetic object that is influenced by historical context

Option C: As a historical object that is also aesthetic

Option D: As a historical object that is not necessarily aesthetic

Correct Answer: As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical context ✔

Option A: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Option B: Virginia Woolf

Option C: Matthew Arnold

Option D: Carl Jung

Correct Answer: Samuel Taylor Coleridge ✔

Option A: Aristotle

Option B: Dante

Option C: Longinus

Option D: Plato

Correct Answer: Plato ✔

Option A: A character who is always cheerful and gay

Option B: A character who is by nature melancholy

Option C: A character whose temper is determined by the predominance of one out of the four fluids in the human body

Option D: An eccentric person

Correct Answer: A character whose temper is determined by the predominance of one out of the four fluids in the human body ✔

Option A: F. R. Leavis

Option B: Allen Tate

Option C: John Crowe Ransom

Option D: R. P. Blackmur

Correct Answer: John Crowe Ransom ✔

Option A: Psychoanalytic theory

Option B: Feminist theory

Option C: Ethnic criticism

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Drama

Option B: Narrative mode

Option C: Poetry

Option D: Dialogue

Correct Answer: Dialogue ✔

Option A: A maxim of logic developed by Charles Sanders Peirce

Option B: A theory of practical actions developed by William James

Option C: An idea used to guide conduct towards clear objectives

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Neurotic behavior

Option B: Changes in emotional states

Option C: Slips of the tongue

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: To understand the importance of the formal elements of literary structure

Option B: To formulate relationships among an author, a reader, and a literary work

Option C: To understand the role of sexuality, gender, race, and ethnicity in literary study

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Ophelia’s madness represents the social oppression of women.

Option B: It is nearly impossible to represent women as anything other than mad in patriarchal discourses.

Option C: Feminist critics need to re-appropriate Ophelia for their own purposes.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Wolfgang Iser

Option B: William Wimsatt

Option C: Cleanth Brooks

Option D: Harold Bloom

Correct Answer: William Wimsatt ✔

Option A: Mimetic approach

Option B: Formalist approach

Option C: Historical approach

Option D: Psychological approach

Correct Answer: Psychological approach ✔

Option A: Dryden

Option B: Pope

Option C: Dr. Johnson

Option D: Addison

Correct Answer: Dr. Johnson ✔

Option A: Trauma theory

Option B: Ecotheory

Option C: Game theory

Option D: Marxist theory

Correct Answer: Ecotheory ✔

Option A: Julia Kristeva

Option B: Fredric Jameson

Option C: Terry Eagleton

Option D: Edward Said

Correct Answer: Edward Said ✔

Option A: Identify the Mode of Development

Option B: Analysis of the Author

Option C: Subsequent Readings/Reviews

Option D: Identify External Factors Related to the Work

Correct Answer: Analysis of the Author ✔

Option A: Theodor W. Adorno

Option B: Claude Lévi-Strauss

Option C: Julia Kristeva

Option D: Jacques Derrida

Correct Answer: Claude Lévi-Strauss ✔

Option A: Joseph Addison

Option B: Dr. Johnson

Option C: Coleridge

Option D: Matthew Arnold

Correct Answer: Dr. Johnson ✔

Option A: Begin your paper with an introduction that identifies the purpose of the paper and the text you are addressing.

Option B: Compose topic sentences (four or five, perhaps) that support, explore, demonstrate, or illustrate your thesis.

Option C: Select specific passages in the text of the story that help you to develop each topic sentence.

Option D: Build your paper to a climax; save your most engaging or important topic sentence for discussion last.

Correct Answer: Begin your paper with an introduction that identifies the purpose of the paper and the text you are addressing. ✔

Option A: A reversal

Option B: An imitation

Option C: A satire

Option D: A poetic metaphor

Correct Answer: An imitation ✔

Option A: Plato

Option B: Aristotle

Option C: Longinus

Option D: Horace

Correct Answer: Plato ✔

Option A: Both sets of critics reject the importance of historical context in studying literature.

Option B: Both sets of critics look for an objective way to view texts.

Option C: Both sets of critics focus on evaluating literature in a scientific manner.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Inspiration

Option B: Imagination

Option C: Fancy

Option D: Decorum

Correct Answer: Imagination ✔

Option A: Interpret the Poem.

Option B: Introduce External Support.

Option C: Analyze the Elements of the Poem

Option D: Evaluate the Poem.

Correct Answer: Interpret the Poem. ✔

Option A: Interpretative Criticism

Option B: Legislative Criticism

Option C: Comparative Criticism

Option D: Textual Criticism

Correct Answer: Comparative Criticism ✔

Option A: Identify External Factors Related to the Work

Option B: Interpret the Play

Option C: Analyze the Staging

Option D: Analyze the Essential Elements of the Play

Correct Answer: Analyze the Staging ✔

Option A: Excursion

Option B: Tintern Abbey Lines

Option C: Preface to the Lyrical Ballads

Option D: Immortality Ode

Correct Answer: Preface to the Lyrical Ballads ✔

Option A: 14

Option B: 15

Option C: 12

Option D: 13

Correct Answer: 13 ✔

Option A: the meaning of a text always relies on context.

Option B: texts are always heterogeneous.

Option C: any system for the production of meaning is inevitably bound by context, yet also limitless.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Moral/Philosophical

Option B: Formalism/New Criticism

Option C: Historical/Biographical

Option D: Psychological

Correct Answer: Historical/Biographical ✔

Option A: Cleanth Brooks

Option B: Ferdinand de Saussure

Option C: Karl Marx

Option D: Toni Morrison

Correct Answer: Ferdinand de Saussure ✔

Option A: Keats

Option B: Shelley

Option C: Wordsworth

Option D: Coleridge

Correct Answer: Wordsworth ✔

Option A: Historical

Option B: Feminist

Option C: Tory

Option D: Psychological

Correct Answer: Historical ✔

Option A: Horace

Option B: Quintillion

Option C: Cicero

Option D: Virgil

Correct Answer: Quintillion ✔

Option A: An idea traditionally associated with the Renaissance

Option B: A humanity-centered view of the universe

Option C: A theory that values restraint, form, and imitation

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Literary texts should not be read as a projection of the author’s psyche.

Option B: Literary texts solely reflect an author’s intentions.

Option C: Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author’s unconscious.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author’s unconscious. ✔

Option A: Freud

Option B: Tate

Option C: Richards

Option D: Jung

Correct Answer: Jung ✔

Option A: mirrors our physical evolution as human beings.

Option B: prevents us from communicating through writing or speech.

Option C: involves a constant process of deferred meaning.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: involves a constant process of deferred meaning. ✔

Option A: It offers a strong outline for how theory can be conducted in the 21st century.

Option B: It should not be read or considered by any student or scholar.

Option C: It offers some valid ideas and critiques, but its author is not entirely trustworthy.

Option D: It offers a strong counterpoint to Jacques Derrida’s notion of deconstruction.

Correct Answer: It offers some valid ideas and critiques, but its author is not entirely trustworthy. ✔

Option A: Shakespeare’s

Option B: Marlowe’s

Option C: Spenser’s

Option D: Sidney’s

Correct Answer: Sidney’s ✔

Option A: Change in the fortune of the hero from bad to good

Option B: Change in the fortune of the hero from good to bad

Option C: Constancy in the fortune of the hero

Option D: Fluctuations occurring in the fortune of the hero

Correct Answer: Change in the fortune of the hero from good to bad ✔

Option A: Mathew Arnold

Option B: Walter Pater

Option C: T. S. ELiot

Option D: William Hazlit

Correct Answer: Mathew Arnold ✔

Option A: Language includes multiple social dialects and jargons.

Option B: Language can include socio-ideological contradictions from the past.

Option C: Language exhibits and is bound up in the social lives and historical context of the people who speak it.

Option D: Language is loaded with the intentions of others.

Correct Answer: Language exhibits and is bound up in the social lives and historical context of the people who speak it. ✔

Option A: The hero’s recognition of his tragic flaw

Option B: The hero’s ignorance about his tragic flaw

Option C: The hero’s recognition of his adversary

Option D: The hero’s recognition of his tragic end

Correct Answer: The hero’s ignorance about his tragic flaw ✔

Option A: Sigmund Freud

Option B: Carl Jung

Option C: William James

Option D: Theodor W. Adorno

Correct Answer: Theodor W. Adorno ✔

Option A: A term for the false neuroses expressed in dreams

Option B: A feminist term for the state that occurs when texts written by women are not considered in the study of literature

Option C: Another term for the unconscious

Option D: An ideology that involves dominating the consciousness of exploited classes

Correct Answer: An ideology that involves dominating the consciousness of exploited classes ✔

Option A: A term first used by literary theorists William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley

Option B: A term that suggests that a critic should study the structural and thematic elements of a poem rather than the effect it has on the emotions of the reader

Option C: An important term in the field of New Historicism

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: The unifying power

Option B: Ability to coin new word

Option C: Power of imagination

Option D: Negative capability

Correct Answer: The unifying power ✔

Option A: The effect of literature in enlightening the human mind

Option B: The effect of modern society on human suffering

Option C: The effect of the economy on women’s concerns

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: The effect of modern society on human suffering ✔

Option A: Humanism

Option B: Formalism

Option C: Structuralism

Option D: Marxism

Correct Answer: Formalism ✔

Option A: Literary theory tends to be too political.

Option B: Literary theory does not offer a holistic interpretation of a text.

Option C: Literary theory depends on specialized knowledge that is outside the realm of literary studies.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔

Option A: Elaine Showalter

Option B: Ellen Moors

Option C: Julia Kristeva

Option D: Kate Millet

Correct Answer: Elaine Showalter ✔

Option A: It is impossible to view a piece of literature as its author intended.

Option B: It is impossible to divorce a text from capitalist ideology.

Option C: It is impossible to view a piece of literature correctly, because we can only work within the hetero-normative paradigm.

Option D: It is impossible to separate a text from the linguistics that compose it.

Correct Answer: It is impossible to view a piece of literature as its author intended. ✔

Option A: A figure of judgment

Option B: Religious belief

Option C: A witness

Option D: Psychological treatment

Correct Answer: A witness ✔

Option A: Calling into question the possibility of the coherence of discourse

Option B: Suggesting that the study of literature is based on the breakdown of language into signs

Option C: Arguing that language, and therefore literary texts, relies on the difference between terms and therefore constantly defers meaning.

Option D: All of the above answers are correct.

Correct Answer: All of the above answers are correct. ✔