LITERARY CRITICISM REVIEWER 11.

The word tragic flaw means ____________

A. a defect in the character of a good person (as the
hero of a tragedy) that causes his or her destruction
1. Who is the first literary critic who said that "Art is twice B. ace in the hole
removed from reality" ? C. a strong point in the hero’s character
A. Plato D. Fluctuations occurring in the fortune of the hero
B. Aristotle
C. Longinus 12. Coleridge’s chief contribution to literary criticism is
D. Horace A. Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton
B. Criticism on Wordsworth
2. Who proposed that poets should be banished from the C. Biographia Literaria
ideal Republic ? D. Lectures on the poets of the 17th Century
A. Plato
B. Aristotle 13. ‘ Lives of the Poets’ gives us biographical and critical
C. Sir Philip Sidney studies of :
D. Sir Thomas More A. 94 poets
B. 52 poets
3. Aristotle's critical work is entitled : C. 102 poets
A. Ars Poetica D. 56 poets
B. Poetics
C. De Arte Poetica 14. Philip Sidney's "Apology for Poetrie' is a defence of poetry
D. Poetique against the charges brought against it by :
A. Henry Howard
4. What is the meaning of the term Hamartia as used by B. Roger Ascham
Aristotle in his "Theory of Tragedy" ? C. John Skelton
A. Tragic end of the tragedy D. Stephen Gosson
B. Working of fate against the hero
C. A weak trait in the character of the hero 15. "It is not rhyming and versing that maketh a poet no more
D. A strong quality in the character of the hero than a long gown maketh an advocate" Whose view is this?
A. Shakespeare's
5. What is the meaning of the term 'Peripeteia' as used by B. Marlow's
Aristotle in the "Theory of Tragedy" ? C. Spenser's
A. Change in the fortune of the hero from bad to good D. Sidney's
B. Change in the fortune of the hero from good to bad
C. Constancy in the fortune of the hero 16. What does Sidney say about the observance of the three
D. Fluctuations occurring in the fortune of the hero Dramatic Unities in drama?
A. They must be observed
6. Who is the author of " Symposium" ? B. It is not necessary to observe them
A. Plato C. He favours the observance of the Unity of Action
B. Aristotle only
C. Longinus D. Their observance depends upon the nature of the th
D. Horace
17. T S Eliot described himself as a classicist in literature, a
7. Mimesis means royalist in politics and an Anglo-Catholic in religion in his book
A. Imitation A. After Strange Gods
B. Explanation B. For Lancelot Andrews
C. Justification C. Sacred Wood
D. Imagination D. The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism

8. According to Aristotle the least important element in 18. Eliot believed that only a person who believed in the
tragedy is: doctrine of _______________ could understand his writings.
A. Plot A. Objective Correlative
B. Character B. Impersonality of poetry
C. Song C. Dissociation sensibility
D. Spectacle D. Original sin

9. According to Aristotle, poetic imitation is an imitation of 19. Which essay/ article/ book by T S Eliot is considered the
_______________________ “unofficial manifesto” of his criticism?
A. Reality A. “Tradition and the Individual Talent”
B. Imagination B. The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism
C. Ideals C. “The Metaphysical Poets”
D. Inner human action D. “The Function of Criticism”

10. Which of the following theories of Aristotle is considered 20. The first book of criticism by Eliot has the title
as a reply to Plato’s charge against tragedy that it devitalizes A. Sacred Wood
human emotions B. After Strange Gods
A. Katharsis C. For Lancelot Andrews
B. Hamartia D. Homage to John Dryden
C. Spondaios
D. Anagnorisis 21. The essay “The Metaphysical Poets” is famous for its
concept of
A. Dissociation of sensibility
B. Objective correlative
C. Art emotion and Life emotion
D. Metaphysical wit
22. About which poet did Eliot say that he wrote “English like 31. What fundamental idea does psychoanalytic criticism hold
a dead language”? about literary texts ?
A. Dryden A. Literary texts should not be read as a projection of the
B. Yeats author’s psyche.
C. Arnold B. Literary texts solely reflect an author’s intentions.
D. Milton
C. Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author’s
unconscious.
23. What does Ben Jonson mean by a "Humorous
Character" ? D. All of the above answers are correct.
A. A Character who is always cheerful and gay
B. A Character who is by nature melancholy 32. The author of the Archetypal Patterns in Poetry is
C. A Character whose temper is determined by the A. Maud Bodkin
predominance of one out of the four fluids in the B. Leslie Fiedler
human body C. Wilson Knight
D. An eccentric person D. James Frazer

24. According to the New Critics, the complexity of a work 33. Northrop Frye is NOT the author of which book below?
was due to its a. Language and Myth
A. Linguistic unity b. The Anatomy of Criticism
B. Organic unity c. Fearful Symmetry
C. Linguistic complexity d. Fables of Identity
D. Multiplicity of its imagery
34. _____________ is considered to be the founding father of
25. Identify the TRUE statement about the New Critics in the archetypal criticism.
following statements: A. Maud Bodkin
A. They did not give much importance to the linguistic B. James Frazer
aspect of poems. C. Northrop Frye
B. They believed that a single and best interpretation D. Carl Jung
was possible for any poem.
C. They valued a literary work most for its moral 35. The most important structural anthropologist among the
principles and thematic unity. four below is:
D. They were anti-historical and believed that a critic A. Gerard Genette
should never go into history. B. Claude Levi-Strauss
C. Tzvetan Todorov
26. The wrong idea that form and content could be separated D. James Frazer
is implicit in the term
A. Association of sensibility 36. What is the meaning of the term Anagnorisis as used by
B. Affective fallacy Aristotle in his Theory of Tragedy ?
C. Intentional fallacy A. The hero’s recognition of his tragic flaw
D. Heresy of paraphrase B. The hero’s ignorance about his tragic flaw
C. The hero’s recognition of his adversary
27. Poetic Diction was taken to be the standard language for
poetry in ____ . D. The hero’s recognition of his tragic end
A. The Elizabethan Age
B. The Neo-Classical Age 37. What is meant by 'denouement' ?
C. The Romantic Age A. The ending of a tragedy
D. The Victorian Age B. The ending of a comedy
C. The climax in a tragedy
28. What has Dryden to say about the observance of the D. The climax in a comedy
three classical Dramatic Unities ?
A. He advocates their strict observance 38. Who wrote "The Use of Poetry" and "the Use of Criticism"
B. He does not advocate their strict observance ?
C. He says that every dramatist should decide it for A. Mathew Arnold
himself B. T. S. Eliot
D. He is silent about this issue C. David Daiches
D. Northrop Frye
29. Who called Dryden the ' Father of English Criticism' ?
A. Joseph Addison 39. “Principles of Literary Criticism" and "Practical Criticism "
B. Samuel Johnson are the works of ___.
C. Coleridge A. Mathew Arnold
D. Mathew Arnold B. David Daiches
C. Northrop Frye
30. Which of the following is a critical work of Ben Jonson ? D. A. Richards
A. Discourse of English Poetry
B. Discoveries 40. Who coined the phrase 'Objective Correlative'?
C. Art of English Poetry A. Jack Derrida
D. An Apology for Poetrie B. Mathew Arnold
C. T.S. Eliot
D. W. B. Yeats

41. Which of the following is not a major school of Criticism ?

A. Legislative Criticism
B. Instructive Criticism
C. Descriptive Criticism
D. Aesthetic Criticism
42. Who coined the term 'New Criticism' ? 53. Derirda's paper structure, sign, and play in the "Discourse
A. J. E. Spingam of the Human Sciences" created a new critical movement.
B. Cleanth Brooks What was the name of the movement ?
C. J. C. Ransome A. Structuralism
D. Kennethe Burk B. Deconstruction
C. Intertextualism
43. Who coined the term 'defamiliairization' ? D. Feminism
A. Roman Jakobson
B. Bladimir Propp 54. According to Eagleton, what is the oldest form of literary
C. Victor Shklovsky Criticism ?
D. Mikhail Bakhton A. Religion
B. Rhetoric
44. Who coined the term 'intertextuality' ? C. Sociology
A. Roman Jakobson D. Philosophy
B. Bladimir Propp
C. Victor Shklovsky 55. "A form of literary Criticism which uses the same
D. Julia Kristeva techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of
literature. " Which of the following terms best fit the above
45. Who coined the term 'Hegemony' ? definition ?
A. Antonio Gramsci A. Applied criticism
B. Michel Foucault B. Psychoanalytical criticism
C. Terry Eagleton C. Practical criticism
D. Louis Althusse D. Impressionistic Criticism

46. The concept of 'collective unconsciousness' is associated 56. According to "psychoanalytic criticism" Sigmund Freud's
with ____. ideas concern the aspects of -
A. Sigmund Freud A. Death
B. Carl Jung B. Sexuality
C. James Frazer C. Conservation
D. Lacan D. Humanity

47. 'The Death of the Author' was written by ____. 57. What is the name Edmund Husseal gave to his philosophy
A. Helen Cixous method ?
B. Roland Barthes A. Reception theory
C. Felix Gauttari B. Phenomenology
D. Michel Foucault C. Hermeneutics
D. New criticism
48. Who was the first literary critic who said that "Art is twice
removed from reality? 58. What conventions or earlier literary and artistic cycle style
A. Aristotle do both realism and naturalism
B. Longinus oppose?
C. Plato A. Classicism
D. Dryden B. Romanticism
C. Symbolism
49. The term Electra Complex has originated from a tragedy D. Neoclassicism
entitled Electra, Who is the author of this tragedy?
A. Aristotle 59. What is humanism?
B. Sophocles A. A humanity-centered view of the universe
C. Dante B. A school of theory devoted to the revival of Classical
D. Horace (ancient Greek and Roman) literature
C. A theory that values restraint, form, and imitation
50. Some critics of literary theory argue that literary theory is D. All of the above
problematic for which reason ?
A. Literary theory tends to be too political.
60. Marxism relies heavily on:
B. Literary theory does not offer a holistic interpretation of a
text. A. A socio-economic analysis of social conflict
B. The political doctrine formulated by imperial power.
C. Literary theory depends on specialized knowledge that is
C. Psychoanalytical theory of Freud and Lacan
outside the realm of literary studies.
D. Class dynamics operating among the ‘other ‘ gender
D. All of the above answers are correct.

51. Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of 61. This is a literary movement in America that looks through
Women" is a critical work about______. life as it is.
A. Marxist theory A. Romanticism
B. Orientalism B. Puritanism
C. Feminist Criticism
D. Gynocriticism C. Realism
D. Naturalism
52. Which of the following literary theories originated in
Moscow and Petrograd in the second decade of this century ?
A. Gynocriticism 62. One archetype in literature is the scapegoat. Which of
B. Feminist Criticism these literary characters serves that purpose ?
C. Marxism A. Billy Budd
D. Russian Formalism B. Hamlet
C. Captain Ahab
D. Ophelia
63. What is the main function of postcolonial criticism ?
A. To represent the relationship between colonizers
and the colonized
B. To draw attention to the positive effects of
colonization on literature
C. to explain why there are few examples of successful
non-Western literature
D. To show the ways in which most Western literature
is superior
64. What approach is described by the paragraph? Users of
this approach believe that all information essential to the
interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself;
there is no need to bring in outside information about the
history, politics, or society of the time, or about the author’s
life ?
A. Historical/Biographical Approach
B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
C. Formalism
D. Psychological Approach
65. What does gynocriticism recommend as an approach to
literature ?
A. Examining only female-authored literature more critically
B. Considering women’s literature outside of its historical
context
C. Becoming more familiar with the history of women and
women’s writing
D. All of the above answers are correct.
66. Detractors argue that such an approach can be too
“judgmental.” Some believe literature should be judged
primarily (if not solely) on its artistic merits. What approach
possess this disadvantage ?
A. Psychological
B. Formalism/New Criticism
C. Moral/Philosophical
D. Historical/Biographical
67. A critic examining Pope’s “An Essay on Man” asks herself:
How well does this poem accord with the real world? Is it
accurate? Is it moral? She is most likely a critic?
A. Feminist
B. Reader Response
C. Formalist
D. Mimetic
68. This literary critic warned: “We must remember that the
greater part of our current reading matter is written for us by
people who have no real belief in a supernatural order . . .
And the greater part . . . is coming to be written by people
who not only have no such belief, but are even ignorant of
the fact that there are still people in the world so ’backward’
or so ’eccentric’ as to continue to believe.” ?
A. C.S. Lewis
B. T.S. Eliot
C. G.K. Chesterton
D. Matthew Arnold
69. New trends in literary theory tend to do which of the
following ?
A. Reject all previous modes of literary theory
B. Focus on a return to traditional critical methods
C. Make use of different literary theories in order to develop
new theories
D. Work only with ideas developed by post- Marxist theorists
70. How does literary theory resemble the practice of
philosophy as it was developed by Plato and Aristotle ?
A. Literary theory engages with theoretical rather than real-
world issues.
B. Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary
interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems
of literary interpretation.
C. Literary theory relies totally on speculation rather than
history.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
71. What did Sigmund Freud believe about the unconscious?
A. a. It contains secret instincts and desires that are
repressed.
B. It is the only significant aspect of the human psyche.
C. It can never be accessed.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
72. What approach is described by the paragraph? Those who
apply this approach believe it is necessary to know about the
author and the political, economical, and sociological context
of his times in order to truly understand his works ?
A. Historical/Biographical Approach
B. Moral/ Philosophical Approach
C. Formalism
D. Psychological Approach
73. In her essay “The Poem as Event,” Louise M. Rosenblatt
sees the reader as performing what function ?
A. The reader participates in a transaction with the text.
B. The reader is acted upon by the text.
C. The reader acts upon the text.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
74. In his essay “What Is an Author?” what position(s) on
authorship does Michel Foucault take ?
A. The idea of the author came into being at a certain point in
history.
B. The names of authors serve a classificatory function.
C. The author may not always exist.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
75. Which literary theorist argues that “there is nothing
outside the text” ?
A. T.S. Eliot
B. Jacques Lacan
C. Jacques Derrida
D. Stanley Fish
76. This feminist critic proposed that all female characters in
literature are in at least one of the following stages of
development: the feminine, feminist, or female stage ?
A. Virginia Woolf
B. Elaine Showalter
C. Mary Wolstencraft
D. Ellen Mores
77. Poetic Diction was taken to be the standard language for 85. What does Ben Jonson mean by a ‘Humorous Character’ ?
poetry in______________? A. A character who is always cheerful and gay
A. The Elizabethan Age B. A character who is by nature melancholy
B. The Neo-Classical Age C. A character whose temper is determined by the
C. The Romantic Age predominance of one out of the four fluids in the human
D. The Victorian Age body
D. An eccentric person

78. What does Sidney say about the observance of the three
Dramatic Unities in drama ? 86. What is the philosophical theory known as pragmatism ?
A. They must be observed A. A maxim of logic developed by Charles Sanders Peirce
B. It is not necessary to observe them B. A theory of practical actions developed by William James
C. He favours the observance of the Unity of Action only C. An idea used to guide conduct towards clear objectives
D. Their observance depends upon the nature of the theme D. All of the above answers are correct.
of the play
87. Which of the following human behaviors is important to a
79. What is New Historicism ? Freudian psychoanalytic study of William Shakespeare’s
A. A theory that sees history as a form of writing and Hamlet ?
discourse A. Neurotic behavior
B. A theory that abandons the idea of history as an imitation B. Changes in emotional states
of events C. Slips of the tongue
C. A theory that regards history as a series of narratives D. All of the above answers are correct.
D. All of the above answers are correct.
88. What is the main function of literary theory ?
80. This poet might be described as a moral or philosophical A. To understand the importance of the formal elements of
critic for arguing that works must have “high seriousness.” ? literary structure
A. T.S. Eliot B. To formulate relationships among an author, a reader, and
B. Matthew Arnold a literary work
C. Elizabeth Browning C. To understand the role of sexuality, gender, race, and
D. Virginia Woolf ethnicity in literary study
D. All of the above answers are correct.
81. In Of Grammatology, Jacques Derrida argues what about
literature ?
A. No fixed, stable meaning is possible. 89. With which theorist is the term implied reader associated
B. Language must be studied in conjunction with history in ?
order to create meaning.
A. Wolfgang Iser
C. Literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.
B. William Wimsatt
D. All of the above answers are correct.
C. Cleanth Brooks
D. Harold Bloom
82. Who accused Aristotle of social snobbishness and
arrogance ?
90. A critic argues that in John Milton’s “Samson Agonistes,”
A. Willy Loman the shearing of Samson’s locks is symbolic of his castration at
B. Arthur Miller the hands of Delilah. What kind of critical approach is this
C. Henry James critic using ?
D. David A. Mimetic approach
B. Formalist approach
83. How did the New Critics view literature ? C. Historical approach
A. As an aesthetic object that is independent of historical D. Psychological approach
context
B. As an aesthetic object that is influenced by historical 91. Which of the following critics preferred Shakespeare’s
context Comedies to his Tragedies ?
C. As a historical object that is also aesthetic A. Dryden
D. As a historical object that is not necessarily aesthetic B. Pope
C. Dr. Johnson
84. This literary critic coined the term “fancy.” ? D. Addison
A. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
B. Virginia Woolf 92. Which literary theory would most directly explore
C. Matthew Arnold questions of the role of spatial setting in a poem ?
D. Carl Jung A. Trauma theory
B. Ecotheory
C. Game theory
D. Marxist theory
93. With which theorist is the concept imaginative geography
associated ?
A. Julia Kristeva
B. Fredric Jameson
C. Terry Eagleton
D. Edward Said

94. From whom did New Historicists draw the idea of “self-
regulating systems” ?
A. Theodor W. Adorno
B. Claude Lévi-Strauss
C. Julia Kristeva
D. Jacques Derrida

95. What do structuralist and formalist critics have in

common ?
A. Both sets of critics reject the importance of historical
context in studying literature.
B. Both sets of critics look for an objective way to view texts.
C. Both sets of critics focus on evaluating literature in a
scientific manner.
D. All of the above answers are correct.

96. The key word that characterised the Romantic movement

was_______________?
A. Inspiration
B. Imagination
C. Fancy
D. Decorum

97. Wordsworth’s theory of poetry appears

in_____________?
A. Excursion
B. Tintern Abbey Lines
C. Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
D. Immortality Ode

98. Ultimately, the literary theory of deconstruction argues

that ?
A. the meaning of a text always relies on context.
B. texts are always heterogeneous.
C. any system for the production of meaning is inevitably
bound by context, yet also limitless.
D. All of the above answers are correct.

99. Which of the following figures is considered to be the

father of the linguistic theory known as structuralism ?
A. Cleanth Brooks
B. Ferdinand de Saussure
C. Karl Marx
D. Toni Morrison

100. A critic of Thomas Otway’s “Venice Preserv’d” wishes to

know why the play’s conspirators, despite the horrible,
bloody details of their obviously brutish plan, are portrayed in
a sympathetic light. She examines the author’s life and times
and discovers that there are obvious similarities between the
conspiracy in the play and the Popish Plot. She is most likely a
critic ?
A. Historical
B. Feminist
C. Tory
D. Psychological
ENG PM PRETEST KEY ANSWERS (Lit Crit) 58. a
1. a 59. d
2. a 60. a
3. b 61. c
4. c 62. a
5. b 63. a
6. a 64. c
7. a 65. c
8. a 66. c
9. d 67. d
10. a 68. b
11. a 69. c
12. c 70. b
13. b 71. a
14. d 72. a
15. d 73. d
16. a 74. d
17. b 75. c
18. b 76. b
19. a 77. b
20. a 78. a
21. a 79. d
22. d 80. b
23. c 81. a
24. d 82. b
25. d 83. a
26. d 84. a
27. b 85. c
28. b 86. d
29. b 87. d
30. b 88. d
31. c 89. b
32. a 90. d
33. a 91. c
34. c 92. b
35. b 93. d
36. b 94. b
37. a 95. d
38. b 96. b
39. d 97. c
40. c 98. d
41. b 99. b
42. c 100. a
43. c
44. d
45. a
46. b
47. b
48. c
49. b
50. d
51. c
52. d
53. a
54. b
55. b
56. b
57. b