The Age of Pope-2

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THE AGE OF POPE (1700-1775) Augustan Age -OR- 18th

Century: Age of Prose, Reason and Satire
(Neo-Classical Era)
General Characteristics of the Age

Introduction:
With the closing years of William III and the accession of Queen Anne (1702) some remarkable political and
social changes began to take place in England, which influenced the development of literature during this
period. The literature of this era was partly new and partly a continuance of that of the Restoration. The
following political and social changes altered the pace of both life and literature during this period.
1. The Rise of the Political Parties: Politically, the most important feature of the age was the rise of the two
political parties, the Whigs and the Tories. Their political opinions and programmes were sharply divided.
The Whig party stood for the pre-eminence of personal freedom, and the Tory party supported the view of
royal Divine Right. The Tories, who mostly belonged to the landed classes, objected to the foreign wars
because they had to pay taxes to prolong it, while the Whigs, consisting largely of the trading classes, favoured
the continuance of war, as it contributed to their prosperity. In order to propagate their ideologies and
programmes both the political parties felt the necessity of utilising the services of literary men, and the
politicians bribed the authors to join one or the other of political camps. The politicians often took the authors
into their confidence. Consequently, most men of letters showed a strong political bias. The Whig and the
Tory leaders enlisted on their sides the best poets and prose writers, who fiercely satirised and unduly praised
them under names thinly disguised. This period was an age of unbridled slender. It was, with a few exceptions
a party literature. Literature was honoured not for itself but for the sake of the party. The politics of the period
helped to make it an age of political pamphleteering, and the writers were only too willing to make the most
of it. In order to get mastery in political struggle, both the parties issued a large number of periodicals which
were the mouthpieces of their political opinions. The rise of periodical writing allowed great scope to the
talent of prose writers of the time and helped the development of prose. Hence, we find in this age the rise
of the periodical essay and Journalism, which required neat, lucid, clear and simple prose style. For the
first time the real prose style was evolved. In the words of Albert: "It was the golden age of political
pamphleteering and the writers made the most of it."
Commenting on the characteristics and contribution of this literature, Stopford A. Brooke writes: "Being a
party literature it naturally came to study and to look sharply into human character and into human life as seen
in the great city. It debated subjects of literary and scientific inquiry and of philosophy with great ability, but
without depth.... Criticism being so active, the form in which thought was expressed was now especially dwelt
on, and the result was that the style of English prose became even more simple than in Dryden's hands, and
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English verse, leaving Dryden's power behind it, reached a neatness of expression as
exquisite as it was artificial. At the same time, and for the same reasons, Nature, Passion and Imagination
decayed in poetry."
2. Clubs and Coffee Houses: People began to take great interest in political activity. So, there was a great
addition to the number of political clubs and coffee houses, which became the centres of fashionable and
public life. These coffee houses were entirely dominated by the party. A Whig would never go to a Tory coffee
house and vice versa. Swift once ironically declared that this party spirit infected even the cats and dogs. It
was but natural that it should infect literature also. John Dennis says: "Books were seldom judged on their
merits, the praise or blame being generally awarded according to the political principles of their authors. The
coffee houses were the popular haunts of prominent writers and they figured prominently in the writings of
the day. The coffee house gave rise to purely literary associations, such as, the famous Scriblerns and kit-cat
clubs. In the first number of The Tatler Steele announced as a matter of course that the activities of his new
Journal will be based upon the clubs: "All accounts of Gallantry, Pleasure, and Entertainment shall be under
the article of White's Chocolate House; Poetry under that of Will's Coffee House; Learning under the title of
the Grecian; Foreign and Domestic news you will have from Saint James' Coffee House." The discussions in
coffee houses took place in polished, urbane, elegant, easy and lucid style. So, they led to a polishing of men's
words and manners and elegance and "good form came to be highly valued. Urbanity, polish, refinement,
elegance, lucidity and matter-of-factness became the well-recognised qualities of style both in prose and
poetry.
3. The New Publishing Houses: The rising interest in politics coupled with the decline of drama, resulted in
a remarkable increase in the size of the reading public. Consequently, a large number of men like Edmund
Curll, Jacob Tonson, John Dunton etc. took interest in publishing translations, adaptations and other popular
works of the time.They became the forerunners of modern publishing houses. They employed hack writers of
the period, who lived in miserable hovels in Grub Street.
4. The Rise of the Middle Class and the New Morality: What distinguished this period is the emergence of
a powerful middle class, which was associated with the nobility in the exercise of power and political
influence, and directed culture. It was a period of comfortable aristocratic rule in which the middle classes,
especially the rich merchant class, cooperated with the aristocratic rulers. The predominance of the middle
class made it an age of tolerance, moderation and common sense, which, in cultured circles, at least, sought
to refine manners and introduce into life the rule of sweet reasonableness. The Church also pursued a middle
way, and religious life was free from strife and fanaticism. Albert remarks: "This middle way of control and
reason, and the distrust of enthusiasm', are faithfully reflecied in the literature of the period.
The powerful dominance of the middle classes led to moral regeneration in the eighteenth century.
Middle-class people, says Cazamian, require "to live in a moralizing atmosphere, if not in an atmosphere of
unblemished purity, in order to be at peace with conscience, and feel secure from divine retribution. The
eighteenth century witnessed a resolute attempt in the direction of moral regeneration. The people were fast
growing sick of the outrageous licence which in fashionable circles had followed the return of the Stuarts.
People had begun once more to insist upon those basic decencies of life and moral considerations, which the
preceding generation had, treated with utter contempt. They were equally hostile to Puritan fanaticism and
religious zeal. Their ideal of morality was rational, sane and balanced. It was devoid of the high passion or the
spiritual fervour of the Elizabethan age. Hudson remarks: "The desire for improvement is....a marked feature
of not a little of the literature of this half century, and especially of the literature which emanated from middle-
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class writers, who were of course most strongly influenced by moral
considerations. Besides, William III and Queen Anne were severe moralists. Addison in an early number of
The Spectator, puts the new tone in writing in his own admirable way: "I shall endeavour to enliven morality
with wit and wit with morality."
Literary Characteristics of the Age

The political and social changes, which exhibit the supremacy of good sense, rationality and avoidance of
enthusiasm, left an indelible influence on the literature of the Age of Pope. Summing up the characteristics of
the literature of this period, Hudson remarks: "The same temper marks the literature of the age, which exhibits
a similar coldness and want of feeling, and a similar tendency towards shallowness in thought and formality
in expression. It is a literature of Intelligence (though of intelligence which rarely goes much beneath the
surface of things), of wit, and of fancy, not a literature of emotion, passion, or creative energy; and in it
spontaneity and simplicity are sacrificed to the dominant mania of elegance and correctness." The main literary
characteristics of this age are given below:
1. An Age of Prose and Reason: Now for the first time we must chronicle the triumph of English prose. A
multitude of practical interests, which we have already discussed, arising from the new sosial and political
conditions demanded expression, not simply in books, but more especially in pamphlets, magazines and
newspapers. Poetry was inadequate for such a task. Hence prose developed rapidly and excellently. Indeed,
poetry itself became prosaic, as it was not used for creative works of imagination, but for essays, satires and
criticism-for exactly the same practical ends as was prose. The graceful elegance of Addison's essays, the terse
vigour of Swift's satires, the artistic finish of Fielding's novels, the sonorous eloquence of Gibbon's history
and of Burke's orations - these have no parallel in the literary history of the eighteenth century. The poetry of
the first half, as represented by the work of Pope, is polished and witty but it lacks fire, fine feeling, enthusiasm
and imaginative appeal. In short, it interests us as a study of life but fails to delight or inspire us. Matthew
Arnold rightly calls the eighteenth century "an age of prose". The literature of the period is prosaic in
spirit, it "exhibits a similar coldness and want of coldness, and similar tendency towards shallowness in
thought and formality in expression." According to W. H. Hudson, "it is a literature of intelligence (though of
intelligence which rarely goes much beneath the surface of things), of wit, and of fancy. not a literature of
emotion, passion or creative energy; and in it spontaneity and simplicity are sacrificed to the dominant mania
for elegance and correctness. This is true even of poetry, which seldom travelled beyond the interests of that
narrow world of the "Town", by which men's outlook was commonly circumscribed, and finding its public in
the coffee house and drawing room, drew for its substance upon the politics and discussions of the hour. Such
poetry, however clever, was necessarily more or less fugitive; it lacked inevitably the depth and grasp of
essential things which alone assure permanence in literature; and the quest for refinement in style resulted too
often in stilled affectations and frigid conventionalism."
2. Satire: The prevalance of satire, which resulted from the unfortunate union of politics with literature, is an
important literary characteristic of this age. Nearly every writer of the first half of the eighteenth century was
used and rewarded by Whigs or Tories for satirising their enemies and for advancing their special political
interests. Pope was a singular exception in this regard but he nevertheless followed the prose writers in using
satire too largely in his poetry. W. J. Long writes: "Now satire that is, a literary work which searches out the
faults of men or institutions in order to hold them up to ridicule- is at best a destructive kind of criticism. A
satirist is like a labourer who clears away the ruins and rubbish of an old house before the architect and builders
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begin on a new and beautiful structure. The work may sometime be necessary, but it
rarely arouses our enthusiasm. While the satires of Pope, Swift and Addison are doubtlessly the best in our
language, we hardly place them with our great literature, which is always constructive in spirit; and we have
the feeling that all these men were capable of better things than they ever wrote."
3. The Classic Age: The Age of Pope is often named the Classic Age. Is it a classic age like those of Homer
and Virgil? Or is it a classic age like those of Augustus and Dante? First, we should clearly understand the
meaning of the word "classic". Generally speaking, the term "classic" refers to writers of the highest
rank in any nation. It was first applied to the works of great Greek and Roman writers like Homer and
Virgil. In English literature any writer who followed the simple, noble and inspiring method of these
writers was said to have a classic style. Secondly, a period, marked by a number of celebrated writers who
produce books, is called the classic period of a nation's literature. The reign of Augustus is the classic age
of Rome; the age of Danto is the classic age of Italian literature; the age of Louis XIV is the French
classic age; and the Age of Pope is not the classic age like those of Homer and Virgil. The writers of the
Age of Pope disregarded the Elizabethan literary trends which are conspicuous for naturalness of style, without
regard to rules, enthusiasm, romantic emotions, flight of imagination, vigour, freshness and fine feeling. The
writers of the period under discussion demanded that their pootry should follow exact rules. In this respect
they were influenced by French writers, especially by Boileau and Racine, who insisted on procise rules of
writing poetry. They professed to have discovered their rules in the classics of Horace and Aristotle. Dryden
and Pope pioneered the revival of classicism which conformed to rules established by the great writers of other
nations and which ignored the creative vigour of writers, depth and high seriousness of subject matter and the
vigour and freshness of expression when in 1706 Walsh wrote to Pope: "The best of the modem poets in all
languages are those that have nearest copied the ancients", he expressed concisely the principle of classicism.
Pope elucidated this principle in the oft-quoted lines in The Essay on Criticism:
Those rules of old discover'd, nor devis'd,
Are Nature still, but Nature methodiz'd;
Nature, like Liberty is but restrain'd
By the same laws which first herself ordain'd
Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem,
To copy Nature is to copy them.
Addison said: "Wit and fine writing" consist not so much "in advancing things that are new, as in
things that are known, an agreeable turn. "The classical writers of the eighteenth century regarded the old
English writers with contempt and indifference. They were guided by reason, good sense and wit; they wanted
order and balance, and every kind of excess and irregularity was abhorrent to them. They were classics,
because they claimed the formal classical qualities of moderation, tolerance and good sense. Summing the
classicism of the Age of Pope, W.J. Long writes: "The general tendency of literature was to look at life
critically, to emphasise intellect rather than imagination, the form rather than the content of a sentence. Writers
strove to repress all emotion and enthusiasm, and to use only precise and elegant methods of expression. This
is what is often meant by the "classicism" of the ages of Pope and Johnson. It refers to the critical, intellectual
spirit of many writers, to the fine polish of the heroic couplets or the elegance of their prose, and not to any
resemblance which their work bears to true classic literature. In a word, the classic movement had become
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pseudo-classic, i.e., false or sham classicism; and the term is now often used to
designate a considerable part of eighteenth century literature. To avoid this critical difficulty we have
adopted the term Augustan Age, a term chosen by the writers themselves, who saw in Pope, Addison,
Swift, Johnson, and Burke the modern parallels to Horace. Virgil, Cicero, and all the brilliant company
who made Roman literature famous in the days of Augustus."
Grierson in his famous book The Background of English Literature asserts that the hallmark of the
ancient classical literature is a harmonious balance between form and substance. This harmonious balance of
form and substance is disturbed in the Age of Pope. The writers of this period care for form, not for the weight
of matter; they care only for manner, for artistic finish and polish, but not for genuine poetic inspiration. The
content, thought and feeling, is subordinated to form.
Good sense is one of the central characteristics of the literature of this period. In the words of W.H.
Hudson: "Good sense became the ideal of the time, and good sense meant a love of the reasonable and the
useful, and a hatred of the extravagant, the mystical and the visionary."
4. Literature of the Town: The range of the literature of this period is strictly limited. It is a literature of the
town and the fashionable upper circles of the city of London. Pope, Addison, Steele, Burke and all other
writers of this period deal only with urban themes. Steele and Addison, though urban in outlook and
temperament, show remarkable interest in the middle classes and, thus, broaden the scope of literature, which
prior to them was strictly confined to fashionable and aristocratic circles. In the works of the middle class
writers classicism shows itself slightly, coloured by a moralizing and secretary sentimental intention.
POETRY
Main Characteristics of Poetry in the Age of Pope
"In poetry, the tradition continued of brilliant topical satire and of didactic poetry that frequently was
more tedious than brilliant. Appeal was normally sought to what was variously called Reason, Nature, or
Common Sense. Polish and elegance of form were of more importance than subtlety of organinality of
thought." So Moody and Lovett comment on the poetry of this period. Below are given the salient features of
the poetry of the Age of Pope:
1. Poetry of Intelligence and Common Sense: The poetry of the adherents of the Augustans is the product
of intelligence, good sense and reasonableness. It plays upon the surface of life and ignores the primary human
emotions and feelings. It is realistic and unimaginative. It is didactic and satiric. It is a poetry of argument and
criticism, of politics and personalities. The poetry of Pope is the flawless example of all that is best in the
poetry of this age.
2.Town Poetry: It is strictly confined to "town". The fashionable aristocratic society attracted the poets of
this period. It ignores the humbler aspects of life and shows no real love of nature, landscape or country things
and people. It is a shallow, superficial poetry which neither inspires nor ennobles mankind. Its theme is
unpoetic and its character is prosaic. It has no universal appeal. It eschews all emotions, enthusiasm,
romantic inspiration, wide human sympathy which distinguish the works of Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare and Milton, and the visionary idealism and strong religious faith of the Middle Ages.
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3. Artificial and Conventional Style: The poets deftly cared for form and took all
pains to polish and refine the poetic style. It "led to the establishment of a highly artificial and conventional
style, which presently became stereotyped into a regular traditional poetic diction." Simplicity and naturalness
of expression were sacrificed for the frequent use of classical embroidery, grandiloquent phrases, pompous
circumlocutions. Plain and direct expressions were avoided ovon when the poets dealt with the commonplace
matter. The plain and forceful expression like "God rest his soul" was expressed in bombastic and artificial
phraseology "External blessings on his shade attend." It was against this "gaudiness and Inane phraseology"
that Wordsworth emphatically protested.
4. The Literary Forms: During this period the satiric and narrative forms of poetry flourished. The satiric
type is common and of high quality. Pope's Dunciad is the best example of a personal satire. Satire tends to
be lighter, brighter, and more cynical. It is spreading to other forms of verse besides the heroic couplet. We
can observe it in the octosyllabie couplet in the poems of Swift, Prior and Gray. Epistolary form of satire,
represented by Pope's Epistles of Horace Imitated, also developed during his period.
Narrative poetry is of considerable bulk, and contains some of the best productions of the age. Pope's
translation of Homer is a good example of narrative poetry.
5. Dominance of the Heroic Couplet: Heroic couplet dominated in poetry. This metre produced a close,
clear, and pointed style, as we shall note in the poetry of Pope. Its epigrammatic terseness provided a suitable
medium of expression to the kind of poetry which was then popular: In the long run the heroic couplet outlived
its utility as it "was bound to grow monotonous, and that it was too narrow and inflexible to be made the
vehicle of high emotion or strong passion."
POETRY
1. Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Born in 1688, Pope wrote tolerable verse when he was twelve years old. He
was the son of a London tradesman. His tiny and delicate physical constitution, and his faith in Roman
Catholicism greatly influenced his career as a poet. Owing to his ill health he was privately educated, and
could not cultivate the knowledge of the world of nature or of the world of human heart. By reason of the
sweeping laws against the entrance of Catholics into public service, he was shut out from the ordinary career
of Englishmen in Parliament, the Church, or the Army. So, he dedicated his whole life to literature. Other men
of letters of his age had other engagements but he rose only to be a poet. W. J. Long remarks: "Swift was a
clergeyman and politician, Addison was Secretary of State, other writers depended on patrons or
politics or pensions for fame and a livelihood; but Pope was independent, and had no profession, but
literature." Pope received very little school education, but he privately studied English books and picked up
a smattering of the classics. He began to write poetry quite early. He records the fact with his usual vanity:
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
1 lisped in numbers, for the numbers came.
Pope acknowledged Dryden as his poetic master, though much of his work was influenced by Boileau,
the French poet and critic.
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The publication of Essay on Criticism and The Rape of the Lock stormed him
into popularity. His translations of Homer were so successful financially that he bought a Villa at Twickenham,
on the Thames.
Pope died in 1744 and was buried at Twickenham.
Pope's Works: For the sake of convenience we may separate Pope's work into three periods:
(1) The First Period (1704-1713): This period is largely a period of experiment. Pope's Pastorals appeared
in 1709. The characters and scenery are artificial, as they are based on classical models. The work is important
as an experiment in verse technique. Pope handled the heroic couplet with great metrical skill, variation of
speed and tone, and delicacy of touch.
An Essay In Criticism (1711) is also written in heroic couplet. It sums up the art of poetry as taught
first by Horace, Boileau and other eighteenth century classicists. It is hardly a poem but a restatement of the
code of the ancients. Pope perfects the heroic couplet by imparting to it conciseness and epigrammatic neatness
which have given his remarks the permanence of proverbs; for example:"
A little learning is a dangerous thing."
"For fools rush in where angels Fear to tread."
"To err is human, to forgive divino."
Windsor Forest (1713) is a pastoral in a familiar metre.
The Rape of the Lock, a masterpiece of its kind, was first published in 1712, and then published in an
enlarged form in 1714, It was soon after its publication that Pope jumped to the foremost place in English
letters. It was soon after this that Voltaire called him "the best poet of England, and, at present, of all the
world". The occasion of the famous poem was trivial enough. A fop at the court of Queen Anne, Lord Petre,
snipped a lock of hair from the abundant curis of a pretty maid of honour, named Arbella Fermor. The young
lady resented it, and the two families plunged into a quarrel which was the talk of London. Pope seized the
occasion to construct a poem in which all the mannerisms of society are pictured in minutest detail and
satirised with the most delicate wit
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic poem, in which the mockery arises from "the contrast
between the sublimity of the style and what the eighteenth century called the meanness of the occasion."
Pope's mock-heroic is still considered the best of its kind in the English language, and is still read and
admired. It is a classic of drawing-room poetry.
It is modelled after Boileau's Le Lutrin, a satire on the French clergy; and La Secchia Rapita (stolen
bucket) a famous Italian satire on the petty causes of the endless Italian wars. It is an authentic expression of
the artificial life of the age of its cards, parties, toilets, lapdogs, tea drinking, snuff taking, and idle vanities.
Edward Albert writes: "The poem combines with its humorous, epic treatment of the trivial theme a delicate
fancy and a good deal of satire on the weaknesses of the fair sex and on society manners in general. For the
most part, this satire is gentle and good humoured...."
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The Rape of the Lock is not only a satire on society, it is also a witty parody of
the heroic style in poetry. The introduction of the sylphs, who guard the lady's bed, make her toilet, and attend
her in public, makes it a witty parody of the heroic style in poetry, and imparts it warmth of fancy
The busy sylphs surround their darling care,
These set the head, and those divide the hair,
Some fold the sleeve, while others plait the gown;
And Betty's praised for labours not her own.
The Rape of the Lock is remarkable for flawless poetic craftsmanship, airy grace and sustained
lightness of touch. Commenting on its admirable qualities, Rickett writes: "The satirical tone of the age, the
frivolous aspect of feminity, is nowhere more exquisitely pictured than in this poem. It is the epic of triflings;
a page torn from the petty. pleasure-seeking life of a fashionable beauty; the mise en scene, the toilet chamber
and the card table. In short, the veritable apotheosis in literary guise of scent, patches aid powder,"
(ii) The Middle Period (1713-1725): This period is remarkable for translations from Homer. Pope translated
the entire Iliad and half of the Odyssey, and the later work was finished by two Cambridge.... Scholars, Elijah
Fenton and William Broome. Pope's knowledge of Greek was inadequate, so he had to depend on Latin,
French and English translations. What distinguishes Pope's translation of Homer is that, he "interpreted Homer
in the elegant, artificial language of his own age. Not only do his words follow literary fashions, but even the
Homeric characteristics lose their strength and become fashionable men of the court,"
In this period Pope also wrote Eloisa to Aberlard and the Elegy to the Memory of an
Unfortunate Lady
(iii) The Last Period (1725-1740): During this period Pope wrote his masterly satires on the hack writers of
Grub Street. The works of this period include To Lord Bathurst, Of the Use of Riches, Of the Knowledge and
Characters of Men, Of the Characters of Women, and, the most famous of all, An Essay On Man, in which he
discussed man's place in the universe. The purpose of the Essay is, in Pope's words, "to vindicate the ways of
God to man" The vindication is perfectly accomplished in four poetical epistles concerning man's relations to
universe, to himself, to society and to happiness. It abounds in quotable lines which are precise and
epigrammatic; for example:
Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blest.
Know thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated is a well known satire. The Prologue to these -the Epistle to
Dr. Arbuthnot- is specially valuable as the most frankly personal of all Pope's writings. It contains the famous
character-study of Addison under the name of Atticus.
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The Dunciad is a long and elaborate satire on "dunces" –. the bad poets,
pedants, and pretentious critics of Pope's day
Pope as a Poet or Was Pope a Poet?

Pope is a controversial poet. There are some who regard him as one of the greatest poets of England
and place him next to Shakespeare and Milton. In his own century he received the warmest praises. Swift,
Addison and Werburton ranked him with the great poets of England. Dr. Johnson was once asked whether
Pope was a poet, he replied: "If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found." He is a poot according
to the eighteenth century poetic standards. He was not a poet, but a versifier in an age of prose. Pope had
neither the imaginative power nor the depth of feeling without which great poetry is impossible. He was not a
great thinker. His view of life was the narrow and shallow view so characteristic of his age. Matthew Arnold
called Dryden and Pope the "classics of our prose." W. J. Long writes: "Pope is in many respects a unique
figure. In the first place, he was for a generation "the poet" of a great nation. To be sure, poetry was. limited
in the early eighteenth century; there were few lyrics, little or no fovo poetry, no epics, no dramas or songs of
nature worth considering: but in the narrow field of didactic and satiric verse Pope was the indisputed master.
His influence dominated the poetry of his age, and many foreign writers, as well as the majority of English
poets, looked to hir as their model."
Undoubtedly. Pope's pootry has the limitations of his age. He was neither a singer nor a creative poet. He has
few ennebling and soul-stirring thoughts which the great poets express with apparent unconsciousness. He
could not soar into the unscalable realms of imagination and could not pry deepor and deeper into the infinite
mysteries of human heart. Like Wordsworth he could not appreciate the beauties of nature. His poetry is town
pestry, strictly limited to the fashionable society of London. The human nature which Pope studios is the
nature of the fashionable gallants and bellos of the day. He could not write epic and drama, which are the
grandest forms of poetry. Neither in his style nor in his matter Pope could attain the grandeur and breadth of
Shakespeare or Milton. He lacked their insight into eternal truths, their power of capturing into melody and
metaphor some strain of the harmony of the universe. As a metrist, Pope is wholly restricted to the heroic
couplet. Within the limitations mentioned above, Pope is a poet whose poetry embodies the spirit of the ages.
Below are given the qualities which distinguish Pope's poetry:
(1) Criticism of the Age: Pope's poetry is a remarkably clear and adequate reflection of the spirit of the age
in which he lived. There is hardly an ideal, a belief, a doubt, a fashion, a whim of Queen Anne's time, that is
not neatly expressed in his poetry. Rickett writes: "Tho three poems in which Pope is emphatically the
spokesman of his age are The Rape of the Lock, picturing its frivolities; Dunciad, unveiling its squalor; The
Essay on Man, echoing its philosophy."
All the merits and demerits of the Age, which was an era of prose, are faithfully represented by the
poetry of Pope. It was an "age of prose and reason" and even the poetry of the age was prosaic. A hard
intellectuality and rationality, qualities proper to prose, mark the poetry of Pope. His themes too are prosaic-
criticism, moral philosophy and satire. He is the most correct of English poets. Pope is a complete
representative of his age.
His age was a rational, artificial and prosaic age. Pope realistically dealt with the life
of the fashionable upper strata of London society. Pope's The Rape of the Lock was, in
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the words of J. R. Lowell, "a mirror in the drawing-room, but it gave back a faithful
image
of society, powered and rouged, to be sure, and intent on trifles, yet still as human in its
own way as the heroes of Homer in theirs." Pope's presentation of contemporary life is not entire. It is
incomplete, as he entirely ignores the lower sections of society, the life in the countryside and the life of the
underworld.
(1) Pope: An Incomparable Artist: Pope was an incomparable versifier, if not a poet, and craftsman in the
eighteenth century. He had a meticulous sense of the exact word in the exact place. Rickett writes "No one
can dress up a common place sentiment or humorous thought in finer clothes than he, but there is no hint in
his work of high imagination, of subtle fancy, no sense of mystery, no romance, no depth of feeling, no
greatness of impulse." Pope's poetic art is the finest specimen of neoclassic conception of "correctness". His
is the true art which conceals art. Well might he say:
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
W.H. Hudson also remarks: "He was within his limits, a marvellously clever and adroit literary
craftsman, and the neat, compact, antithetic and epigrammatic style of writing which was the classical ideal,
assumed perfection in his hands."
Pope's admirable craftsmanship is best seen in the excellent use of the heroic couplet, which was first
used by Chaucer. Dryden too used it with great skill and force but it was Pope who imparted immaculate
artistic excellence to it. Pope's couplet is characterised by correctness and finish. He used couplet for varied
modes of expression. The range of Pope's couplet can be seen by a comparison of The Rape of the Lock with
The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Edward Albert remarks: "The latter is the typical of his later work. Its
epigrammatic pungency, often the result of a skilful use of antithetical balance, shows us Pope's couplet in all
its strength, clearness, and point. For this kind of poetry it has never been equalled."
Pope is not to be reckoned with the great poets of English literature, he was at any rate incomparable
craftsman, a delightful wit and an excellent versifier.
MCQ’s
1) Poet Alexander Pope’s famous work_________________?
A. The Rape of Lock
B. The Deserted Village
C. Spectator
D. Man was made to mourn
2) Alexander Pope coined many a modern day cliché. Which of the following did not originate with
him ?
A. To err is human, to forgive divine
B. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath
C. A little learning is a dangerous thing
D. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
3) Why didn’t Alexander Pope attend an English university ?
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A. He lived in Italy until the age of 27
B. Asthma, headaches, and spinal deformity made him an invalid
C. He was a Catholic, and therefore forbidden from attending
D. He just wasn’t bright enough
4) Name the English poet of 18th century whose works included Rape of the Lock, Dunciad and
Essay on Man?
A. Nelson Mandela
B. Winston Churchill
C. Alexander Pope
D. None of these
5) Who said ‘Cowards die many times before their death’ ?
A. Shakespeare
B. Franklin
C. Carlyle
D. Alexander Pope
6) Who is called the ‘Mock heroic poet’ ?
A. Edmund Walter
B. Jonathan Swift
C. Alexander Pope
D. Dr. Samuel Johnson
7) ‘Lycidas’ is written by_____________?
A. Alexander Pope
B. Henry Fielding
C. Thomas Hardy
D. John Milton
8) Who was a friend of John Milton ?
A. John Donne
B. John Dryden
C. Andrew Marvell
D. Alexander Pope
9) HYMN TO ADVERSITY is a poem by_______________?
A. Thomas gray
B. Alexander Pope
C. Edward gibbon
D. William Blake
10) He wrote both religious and secular poetry. One of his poems urged virgins to make the most of
their time ?
A. Ben Jonson
B. Alexander Pope
C. Robert Herrick
D. John Dryden
11) This famous neoclassical poet wrote on profound themes such as death, but he also had a lighter
side. He once wrote an ode to a cat drowned in a tub of gold fishes ?
A. Alexander Pope
B. William Collins
C. Thomas Gray
D. Ben Jonson
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12) Which of the following is not generally considered to be a neoclassical poet
?
A. John Dryden
B. Henry Vaughan
C. Alexander Pope
D. Ben Jonson
13) John Donne is, in some sense, the originator of metaphysical poetry. But who is most closely
associated with the “founding” of neoclassical poetry ?
A. William Wordsworth
B. Alexander Pope
C. Ben Jonson
D. George Herbert
14) Which poet did Arthur Henry Hallum associate with “the picturesque” ?
A. Alexander Pope
B. Percy Shelley
C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
D. Alfred Tennyson
15) Complete the following sentence. Wordsworth’s advocacy of poets drawing on the “language
really used by men” in his preface to Lyrical Ballads represents____________?
A. a radical break with 18th-century rules on elevated diction.
B. a continuity with poets such as Alexander Pope.
C. a rejection of nature in favor of society.
D. a defense of the use of elaborate figurative language.
16) “The tragic-comedy which is the product of the English theatre is one the most monstrous
inventions that ever entered into a poet’s thought.” Whose view is this ?
A. John Dryden’s B. Alexander Pope’s
C. Joseph Addison’s D. Dr. Johnson’s
17) Which of the following is not an English poet (i. e. from England) ?
A. Victor Hugo B. Alexander Pope
C. John Milton D. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Rape of The Lock (Summary)

The Story Behind the Story
Pope wrote The Rape of the Lock in response to a request made by his friend John Caryll, a prominent Roman
Catholic of the time. Caryll explained that his friend, Lord Petre, had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor's hair.
Ever since the incident. the families had been feuding. In order to make light of the situation, Pope wrote The
Rape of the Lock. "The stealing of Miss Belle Fermor's hair, was taken too seriously. and caused an
estrangement between the two families, though they had lived so long in great friendship before. A common
acquaintance and well. wisher to both, desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it, and laugh them together
again. It was with this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock."
 A sylph, or spirit, named Ariel warns a young woman named Belinda that an offense will be committed
against her, but she does not include where or when
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 Belinda, clearly a woman from high social standings, prepares herself for a
social event by putting on makeup and generally just dolling herself up
 She travels to where the social event is being held, and is thought to be more beautiful than anyone
else; her hair especially is always the object of envy
 A baron, who especially admires Belinda's beautiful golden locks of hair, has decided to attempt to cut
off a lock of her hair, as it would be the finest treasure he could hope to have.
 He so badly wanted this lock that he even prayed to the gods and lit an altar fire; the ridiculousness of
this behavior for just a piece of hair is a good example of the satire that Pope employs
 Everyone plays a card game called Ombre, and although it seems clear that the Baron will win, Belinda
does not give up hope.
 This game is described as an almost life-or-death situation; Pope makes the card game seem like an
important battle, and by doing so he is in effect mocking high society for equating a card game to war.
 The game ends and Belinda wins
 Clarissa fetches a pair of scissors for the Baron to cut Belinda's hair
 The Baron cuts a lock from Belinda's hair and she becomes infuriated
 Umbriel, a gnome, travels down to the underworld to get Belinda a bag of sighs and a vial of tears.
The gifts were brought to comfort Belinda
 Clarissa tries to calm Belinda down but it does not work
 Belinda throws a handful of snuff at the Baron and a "battle" Begins.
 The battle ends and the lock of hair is nowhere to be found
"The Rape of the Lock" (MCQ’s)

1. "The Rape of the Lock" is____ satire.
a) Political b) Social
c) Bitter d) None of these
2.The problem aroused between two_____ families
a) Catholic b) Protestant
c) Jewish d) Indian
3. _______was the friend & well-wisher of both families.
a) Swift b) John Caryll
c) Pope d) None of these
4. Baron in The Rape of the Lock represents (Lord Peter)
5. Belinda in The Rape of the Lock represents (Arabella Fermor)
6. Divine Machinery is taken from doctrine.
a) Aristotle's b) Plato's
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c) Rosicrucian d) None of These
7. The real incident of cutting hair took place in
a) 1710 b) 1711
c) 1712 d) 1713
8. "Rape of the Lock" was first published in
a) 1710 b) 1711
c) 1712 d) 1713
9. "What _______offence from amorous causes springs".
a) Trivial b) Huge
c) Dire d) Small
10. "What mighty contests rise from________ things."
a) Trivial b) Huge
c) Dire d) Small
11. Belinda's eyes first open at_________
a) Perfumes b) Love latter
c) Cosmetics d) Ariel
12. Divine machinery is not governed by________
a) Mortal laws b) Ambition
c) Emotions d) God
13. Florio and Damon were_____
a) Princes b) Kings
c) Imaginary d) Servants,
14. "A watchful sprite, and_______ is my name."
a) shock b) Baron
c) Ariel d) None of these
15. Dressing of Belinda reminds about _____in epic.
a) Make up b) Preparation of hero
c) Tension d) Climax
16. Divine machinery reminds about______ of epic.
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a) Heroes b) gods & goddesses
c) Both of them
17. The best thing in Belinda's personality was_____.
a) Pair of eyes b) Pair of shoe
c) Pair of locks d) Pair of scissors
18. "Phoebus" means
a) Sun god b) Moon god
c) Spleen d) None of these
19. Belinda's travel on boat_______ represents of epic.
a) War b) Long Travel
c) Magic d) Woods
20. Baron made altar to please_______.
a) Zeus b) Apollo
c) Cupid d) Belinda
21. Belinda, after humiliation, sat with________
a) Clarissa b) Betty
c) Baron d) Thalestris
22. __________came to get back hair for Belinda.
a) Baron b) Sir Plume
c) Clarissa d) None of these
23. Poll was Belinda's________.
a) Parrot b) Husband
c) dog d) friend
24. Lock was preserved in Baron's_____.
a) Locket b) Key-chain
c) Ring d) Wallet
25. Umbriel was a________.
a) Gnome b) Sylph
c) Salamander d) Nymph
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26. Spleen lived in a_______.
a) Palace b) Hut
c) Cave d) Hotel
27. "Cupid's flames"means ______.
a) Fire of hate b) Fire of lust
c) Fire of love d) None
28. Finally, the lock went to ___
a) Water b) Fire
c) Sky d) Earth
29. "Galileo's Eyes" means
a) Telescope b) Telefilm
c) Glasses d) Lenses
30. Pope was born in
a) 1686 b) 1687
c) 1688 d) 1689
31. Spleen is queen of
a) Well wishes b) Bad tempers
c) Dirt d) None of these
32. Supreme spirits took care of
a) Human beings b) Spheres /Stars
c) Fashion d) None of These
33. Humbler kind of spirits dealt with
a) Humans b) Stars
c) Fashion d) Magic
34. Ariel was a _____.
a) Sylph b) Nymph
c) Gnome d) Hero
35. The Name "Ariel" was taken from the play of
a) Marlowe b) Shakespeare
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c) Ibsen d) Sophocles
36. Pope was a good friend of
a) Peter b) Swift
c) Dickens d) Eliot
Other Poets of the Period

Matthew Prior's (1664-1721) first work is a parody of Dryden's The Hind and the Panther, entitled
The Town and Country Mouse (1687). It was written in collaboration with Charles Montagu. His other works
are Alma, or The Progress of the Mind (1718) and Solomon on the Vanity of the World (1718). Alma is an
imitation of Butler's Hudibras and Solomon is written in heroic couplet. Prior's longer poems lack in strength,
power and passion. Prior's reputation rests on his shorter pieces which are The Chameleon, The Thief and the
Cordelier, and a number of poems, To Chole.
John Gay (1685-1732) is best remembered for his Fables (1727), which is colloquial, easy,
octosyllabic, and The Beggar's Opera (1728), which is a famous play. It contains some pretty songs and much
genuine but boisterous humour. Gay's chief poetic works are The Rural Sports (1713), written in the heroic
couplet, The Shepherd's Week (1714). What d'Ye Call It (1715), a pastoral farce, and Trivia or The Art of
Walking the Streets of London (1716), a witty parody of the heroic style. Gay mirrors the manners and outward
show of his age.
Edward Young (1683-1765) wrote varied kind of poetry. His Last Day (1714) and The Force of
Religion (1714) are moralizings written in the heroic couplet. The Love of Fame (1725-28) shows an advance
in the use of the heroic couplet. He is remembered for The Complaint or Night. Thoughts on Life, Death and
Immortality (1742), which is written in the blank verse. It was occasioned by the death of his wife. It is a
lengthy poem of sententious reflection and shows considerable technical skill in the management of the blank
verse, but it is handicapped by a stilted, theatrical phraseology. It anticipates the "Churchyard School" of
poetry..
Samuel Garth's (1661-1719) The Dispensary (1699) is a satire on the Society of Apothecaries. It is
written in the couplet.
William Somerville (1675-1742) wrote The Chase, a gloomy and sombre poem, imitating the
Churchyard School' of poetry.
Lady Winchilsec (1661-1720) stood to some extent for the now spirit. Some of her poems are The
Spleen (1701), a Pindaric Ode, The Prodigy (1706); and Miscellany Poems (1713), containing. A Nocturnal
Reverie. She had the gift of producing smooth and melodious verse, and had a discerning eye for the beauties
of nature. Wordsworth singled her out as a remarkable poet: "Now it is remarkable that, excepting the
Nocturnal Reverie of Lady Winchilsea, and a passage or two in the Windsor Forest of Pope, the poetry
intervening between the publication of the Paradise Lost and The Seasons does not contain a single new image
of external nature.
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Thomas Parnell (1679-1718) made a notable break with the trends of the
eighteenth
century poetry. His best work is contained in The Hermit which reminds the reader of The
Deserted Village. He shows skill as a versifier, and he has a genuine regard for nature.
PROSE
The Age of Pope, as we have already discussed, is the age of prose in the real
sense. The prose of Bacon, Jonson, S. T. Browne, Burton and Milton is the prose of an age of poetry; but
according to Rickett, "the prose of the new age is far better adapted to an age richer in philosophic and political
speculation than to poetry; in the art of critical exposition and journalistic realism than work of creative
imagination." Dryden is the first great pioneer of modern prose. His ease, force, vigour, clearness and
intellectuality imparted a really true prosaic character to his writing. Dryden's Essay On Dramatic Poesy was
undoubtedly "a model of the new prose".
The Periodical Essay was the peculiar product of the eighteenth century. It was called "periodical" because it
was not published in book form like other types of essays, as the essays of Bacon, but it was published in
journals and magazines which appeared periodically. It had an inherent social purpose. It aimed at improving
the manners and morals of the people and, hence, it is also termed as the "social essay". Defining the periodical
essay, William Hazlitt remarks: "It makes us familiar with the world of men and women, records their actions,
assigns their motives, exhibits their whims, characterises their pursuits in all their singular and endless variety,
ridicules their absurdities, exposes their inconsistencies, "holds the mirror up to nature", and shows the very
age and body of the time, its form and pressure; takes minutes of our dress, airs, looks, words, thoughts and
actions, shows us what we are and we are not; plays the whole game of human life over before us, and by
making us enlightened spectators of its many coloured scenes, enables us, if possible, to become tolerably
reasonable agents in the area in which wo have to perform a part."
We have already discussed that the increasing interest in the political affairs, the establishment of clubs and
coffee houses, and the new printing houses contributed to the development of prose in the eighteenth century.
Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison are the four great writers of the
periodical essay in the age of Pope.
1. Daniel Defoe (1661-1731). As a pioneer in journalism as well as in the novel Defoe enjoys an important
place in English literature. The germs of the periodical essay are found in Defoe's Review, which at first
appeared weekly, then twice, and later thrice a week. Its main aim was to acquaint the English people with the
thoughts of Defoe on International politics and on commerce. The Review comes nearer the periodical essay
proper in the section called the Mercure Scandale or Advice From the Scandalous Club, which is further
described as being "a weekly history of Nonsense, Impertinence, Vice and Debauchery." Before the Review
was a year old this section became a monthly supplement. Later, it was separated from the main portion and
distinguished by the title of The Little Review. Thus, in the Review, the element of news ousts gossip and
moral criticism. Defoe contributed vigorous essays on the vices and follies of society, on the minor morals,
and sometimes on the great virtues and vices. Defoe's papers lack in human touches and lightness of touch
which distinguish
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Steele and Addison. The Review came to an end in 1712. Defoe also contributed copiously to Mist's Journal
and Applebee's Journal. Defoe was a born journalist and pamphleteer who wrote with remarkable facility,
command and effect on an infinite variety of subjects. He had the keenest sense of what the public wanted.
He was avowedly a moral and social reformer, and aimed at correcting and teaching his age. Defoe's papers
are noticeable for their clear, lucid and vigorous style. He is, indeed, a great pioneer of the periodical essay,
and he influenced The Tatler and The Spectator.
Defoe's Contribution to Fiction

Defoe's works in fiction were produced in the later part of his life. His fictional works include Robinson
Crusoe (1719), Duncan Campbell, Memoirs of a Cavalier, Captain Singleton (1720), Moll Flanders, A Journal
of the Plague Year, Colonel Jacque (1722) and Roxana (1724) and A New Voyage Round the World (1725).
Defoe's works of fiction are called "fictitious biographies." Leslie Stephen calls them "history minus the
facts". The entire gamut of his fictional work is biographical and he made no attempt towards the organization
of materials into a systematic plot. However, as a pioneer of English novel he made the following
contribution:
(i) The Realistic Imagination: Defoe was the first to impart the illusion of reality to the imaginative subject,
which was hitherto despised by the story-tellers. Hudson writes: "....since it was his object at all times to give
his inventions the semblance and air of truth, his stories are told as if they were stories of real life, in the plain,
matter-of-fact, business-like way appropriate to stories of actual life, and with a studious avoidance of
everything suggestive of artifice. Hence, the extraordinary minute realism which is recognized as an
outstanding feature of his fiction."
(ii) Power of Detail: Defoe knew the art of narrating details effectively. The detail is lucidly given. It is not
oppressively technical. It is clear, orderly and sufficient. He never overdoes his detail, or exceeds his power.
For instance, in Roxana he stops short in his narrative and observes artfully, she "fell into well-deserved
misery". Nowhere is the power of detail better used than in The History of the Plague Year. Edward Albert
romarks: "At its best, as in the finest parts of Robinson Crusoe, his writing has a realism that is rarely
approached by the most ardent of modern realists. This is achieved by Defoe's grasp of details and his unerring
sense of their supreme literary value, a swift and resolute narrative method, and a plain and matter-of-fact
style that inevitably lays incredulity asleep. To the development of the novel Defoe's contribution is priceless."
(iii) His Interest in Contemporary Life: Defoe had a comprehensive knowledge of the varied aspects of
human nature. He portrayed realistically pirates and pickpockets, and loose women. He is rightly called "the
mouthpiece of the commercial middle class of his day." His interest in contemporary life is reproduced in
Robinson Crusoe.
(iv) Style: Defoe's style is unpolished, but has a vigorous, homely raciness and a colloquial vocabulary which
suits his purpose. His style is unadorned, his sentences are loosely constructed and he shows great attention to
the minutest details.
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Defoe's fictional works "form the transition, however, from the slight tale and the
romance of the Elizabethan time to the finished novel of Richardson and Fielding."
2 . Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

Swift was "the most original prose writer of his time-the man of genius among many men of talent." But his
connection with the periodical essay is very slight. He wrote a few papers for The Tatler and The Spectator.
The Journal to Stella was written in the years 1710-1713. It is an excellent commentary on contemporary
characters and political events. Swift's Drapier's Letters (1724), a model of political harangue and of popular
argument, roused an unthinking English public and gained him popularity in Ireland, the country he hated. He
also contributed to Sheridan’s Dublin periodical The Intelligencer.
Swift was not by nature an essayist. He was not endowed with a genial humor, humane outlook and an
impassioned approach to life. His humour was far too grim and sardonic. He could not deal fairly either with
the major morals or minor morals. It is only rarely that he shows the gifts of the periodical essayist as in
"Account of the Death of Mr. Partridge" and "Meditation upon a Broomstick". Hugh Walker points out that
Swift's "intellect was too massive for the essay, and we look for the real Swift on the larger canvas of Gulliver
or A Tale of A Tub."
Swift's Satires. The Battle of Books (1704) and A Tale of A Tub (1704) take rank among the finest prose
satires in English literature. The theme of the former is the dispute between ancient and modern authors and
the latter is a satire on the Dissenters, the Papists, and oven the Church of England. He himself said that "the
aim of the book was to reconcile divinity with wit, but the wit is so pungent and the satire so terrific that the
general impression left is that of utter irreverence in the handling of sacred things." The style of A Tale is
terse, and has a sustained vigour, pace and colourfulness which Swift did not equal in his later works.
In 1726, Swift's inventive genius, his fierce satire, and his cruel indignation with life, were well shown in
Gulliver's Travels. The voyage to Lilliput and Brobdingnag satirised the politics and manners of England and
Europe; that to Laputa mocked the philosophers; and the last, to the country of the Houyhnhnms, lacerated
and defiled the whole body of humanity. It was not written from only literary motive, but rather as an outlet
for the author's own bitterness against fate and human society.
Swift doftly used all the known stylistic devices, allegory, digression, table, irony etc. as instruments of his
satire. He knew that satire conveyed Indirectly is more effective than the direct one. He hides the real meaning
of his tales beneath the garb of allegory. The Tale of A Tub, The Battle of Books and The Gulliver's Travels
are famous satires in the form of allegory.
Swift's Style. Swift's style is terse, lucid, simple, direct, vigorous and suggestive. He deftly uses proper words
in proper place, and carefully avoids the use of big, bombastic and high sounding words. Hudson observes:
"As a master of simple, direct, colloquial style a style as far as possible removed from the ornate and the
rhetorical - he has few rivals and no superiors."
Swift's prose is convincing and powerful. W. J. Long remarks: "Directness, simplicity. vigour, mark every
page.....keeping his object steadily before him, he drives straight on to the end, with a convincing power that
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has never been surpassed in our language. Even in his most grotesque creations, the
reader never loses the sense of reality, of being present as an eyewitness of the most impossible events, so
powerful and convincing is Swift's prose."
Swift writes "the plainest of plain style". This makes him one of the most forceful writers in the history of
English literature. "He was born to write great prose as Milton was born to compose epic poetry."
Jonathan Swift MCQ’s

1. When was Jonathan Swift born?
a. 11 January 1660 b. 14 April 1656 c. 3 June 1663 d. 30 November 1667
2. Where was Jonathan Swift born?
a. Belfast b. Dublin c. London d. Paris
3. Which school did Jonathan Swift attend?
a. Queen Anne School c. St. John’s School
b. Kilkenny Grammar School d. Holy Family School
4. When Jonathan Swift died?
a. 19 October 1743 b. 19 October 1744 c. 19 October 1745 d. 19 October 1746
5. Where Jonathan Swift died?
a. Belfast b. Dublin c. London d. Paris
6. What was the age of Jonathan Swift when he died?
a. 72 years b. 73 years c. 74 years d. 77 years
7. What was the Pen name of Jonathan Swift?
a. M.B. Drapier b. Lemuel Gulliver c. Isaac Bickerstaff d. All of these
8. What was the occupation Jonathan Swift?
a. Satirist b. Essayist & poet c. Priest d. All of these
9. Who wrote the “Gulliver’s Travel”?
a. George S. Schuyler c. John Milton
b. William Shakespeare d. Jonathan Swift
10. Who wrote the “A Modest Proposal”?
11. Who wrote the “A Tale of a Tub”?
12. Who wrote the “Drapier’s Letters”?
13. Which of the following books was written by Jonathan Swift?
a. Gulliver’s Travels c. For whom the bell tolls
b. All Quiet on the Western Front d. The old man and the sea
14. To which did Jonathan Swift belong?
a. Roman Catholic Church c. Church of Ireland
b. Church of England d. Church of Scotland
15. Of which cathedral was Jonathan Swift dean?
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a. St. Paul’s Cathedral d. St.
b. St. Patrick’s Cathedral Albert’s Cathedral
c. Sacred Heart Cathedral
16. When did Jonathan Swift die?
a. 19 October 1745 b. 1 August 1748 c. 22 May 1750 d. 15 March 1752
17. Which college did Jonathan Swift attend?
a. St. Francis de Sales College
b. Mar Ivanios College
c. St. Joseph’s School
d. Trinity College
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS MCQ’s

1. Gulliver's Travels is written by:
a) Wordsworth b) Jonathan Swift
c) Dickens d) Jane Austen
2. Gulliver's Travels is a____ on humanity.
a) Bitter Satire b) Mild satire
c) Dedication d) Focus
3. Gulliver's Travels is also an:
a) Allegory b) Irony
c) Both d) None
4. Lemuel Gulliver first travelled to:
a) Laputa b) Houyhnhnms
c) Lilliput d) Brobdgingnag
5. Gulliver is by profession?
a) Engineer b) Teacher
c) Manager d) Doctor
6. Gulliver spent most of his time.
a) In forest b) In water
c) In cave ` d) In ship
7. Gulliver decided to settle in and practice medicine.
a) London b) America
c) Asia d) Europe
8. The ship, taking Gulliver to South for his first voyage, was:
a) Titanic b) Voyage ship
(c) Antelope d) Sailor ship
9. In his voyage 1, who is the captain of the boat?
a) Robert b) William Pritchard
c) Alexander d) Dickens
10. What is Gulliver's rule on his first voyage?
a) Captain b) Surgeon
c) Sailor d) Passenger
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11. Antelope was destroyed and Gulliver to a shore.

a) Ran b) Walked
c) Swam d) Sailed
12. Gulliver was- and he slept.
a) Happy b) Sad
c) Tired d) Sailed
13. When he woke up, he was
a) In England b) Chained
c) Sad d) Weeping
14. There were-------who took everything from him.
a) Dwarfs b) Giants
c) Pirates d) Criminals
15. Only________ remained unnoticed in his pocket.
a) Watch b) Spectacles
c) Ring d) Pistol
16. Gulliver was taken to-city.
a) London b) Metropolitan
c) French d) New York
17. Lilliputians give the title of to Gulliver.
a) Physician b) Big creature
c) Man Mountain (quinbus flestnsn) d) Alexander the great
18. Activities of Lilliputians include:
a) Awarding silken thread b) Rope dancing
c) Language d) Both A&B
19 . What did "Big Endians" Stand for in Gulliver's Travels?
a) For Catholics b) For Protestants
c) For Muslims d) For Jews
20. What did "Small Endians" Stan for in Gulliver's Travels?
a) For Catholics b) For Protestants
c) For Jews d) For Muslims
21. Gulliver learnt their
a) Customs b) Language
c) Rules d) All of these
22. Who is the wife of Gulliver?
a) Elizabeth b) Cathleen
c) Mary d) Alice
23. How tall are the Lilliputians?
a) Giant b) 7 to 8 inches
c) 5 to 6 inches d) 6 Feet
24. How does Gulliver learn to speak the Lilliputians language?
a) Young girl teaches him b) Six scholars were hired to teach him
c) Beautiful women taught him d) Old man teaches him
25. Gulliver is submissive to the dwarfs. This is:
a) Symbolic b) Metaphoric
c) Irony d) Satire
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26, Lilliputians got______ from Blefuscudians by the support of Gulliver.

a) Victory b) Defeat
c) Peace treaty d) Treasure
27. Gulliver pulled the enemy's
a) Fleet b) Canons
c) King d) Treasure
28. Secret conspiracy was made by two pigmies-against Gulliver.
a) Mary and Albert pert b) Filmnap and Bolgolam
c) Common people d) Queen and king
29. Lilliputians thought that if they keep feeding this giant they will soon become.
a) Rich b) Lords
c) Civilized d) Bankrupt
30 . The Emperor of Lilliput Represents,
a) George I (King of England) b) George II
c) Henry d) None of these
31. The Princess of Lilliput Represents.
a) Elizabeth 1 b) Queen Anne (Queen of England before George I)
c) Elizabeth II d) None of these
32. Lilliput Represents.
a) England b) France
c) Greece d) None
33. Blefuscu Represents
a) England b) France
c) Greece d) None
34. The Sea between Blefuscu and Lilliput Represents
a) The English Channel b) The French Channel
c) Both A&B d) None of these
35. Rope Dancing Represents.
a) Revolutionary Tactics b) Parliamentary Tactics
c) Both A&B d) None of these
36. One of King's Cushions Represents.
a) One of George II's mistresses b) One of Henry's mistresses
c) One of George I's mistresses d) None of these
37. Filmnap Represents.
a) Robert Walpole (1" English PM) b) Henry
c) George d) All of them
38. High Heals Represents
a) Low Church Parties b) High Church Parties (Tories)
c) Medium Church Partie d) None of these
39. Low Heals Represents.
a) Low Church Parties (Whigs) b) High Church Parties
c) Medium Church Parties d) None of these
40. Big Endians Represents.
a) Muslims b) Jews
c) Protestants d) Catholics
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41. Small Endians Represents.

a) Muslims b) Jews
c) Protestants d) Catholics
42. Extinguishing the Fire Represents.
a) A Tale of a Tub (Satirical work on religion by Swift)
b) War of Spanish Succession
c) extinguishing also stands for peace between Bolingbroke and Earl of Oxford
43. Impeachment of Gulliver Represents.
a) Bolingbroke b) Earl of Oxford
c) Bolingbroke and Earl of Oxford d) None of these
44. Bolgolam Represents
a) Bolingbroke b) Earl of Nottingham
c) Earl of Oxford d) All of them
45. Silken Threads Represents.
a) Green (Order of the Thistle, received by Queen Anne 1703)
b) Red (Order of the Bath, received by George I in 1725)
e) Blue (Order of the Garter, given to Walpole 1726, also given a title Sir Blue-String)
46. Gulliver's Affair Represents.
a) Affair of the wife of Walpole and also of Bolingbroke's affair with Duchess of Kendal who was Walpole's
ally
47. Reldresal Represents.
a) Lord Carteret (Charles) b) George
c) Henry d) All of them
48. Gulliver's ending the War Represents.
a) Bolingbroke's (Secretary of the State) ending the through the treaty of Utrecht. He was then accused of
treason by meeting a French Ambassador.
49. Lilliputians suggest:
a) Killing Gulliver b) Keeping Gulliver
c) Blinding him d) Setting him on fire
50. Dwarfs Represents.
a) The Tiny Human with Giant Aims b) Defeated Humanity
c) Peaceful Species d) A Treasure
51. The King of Brobdingnag Represents.
a ) Mouthpiece of George b) Mouthpiece of Henry
c) Mouthpiece of Swift himself d) Mouthpiece of Charles
52. Gulliver in Second Voyage is caught by:
a) A Dwarf b) A Fairy
c) A Giant d) A Lion
53. Gulliver is a_______ in front of giants.
a) Dwarf b) Defeated Soldier
c) Peaceful Fighter d) Treasure
54. Gulliver is taken by the Farmer into Metropolitan City for
a) Selling b) Beating
c) Exhibition d) Meat
55. Gulliver's health______ after so many performances in a day.
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a) Shatter b) Improves
c) Betters d) Increase
56. Gulliver is sold to the
a) The King b) Queen of Brobdingnag
c) Clown d) Treasure
57. Gulliver has several
a) Adventures b) Friends
c) Misadventures d) Rules
58. Queen is impressed but the king.
a) Dislikes Gulliver and his kind b) Is also impressed
c) Respects him d) Sells him
59. Gulliver lives in:
a) A Doll's house b) The Queen's Room
c) The Clown's Chamber d) The Church
60. The King hates
a) Adventures b) Friends
c) Gulliver's Kind/Humans d) Rules
61. Brobdingnag has books on _____topics.
a) Selected b) All
c) Three d) Immense
62. A bird the house of Gulliver when he is out for a walk with king and queen.
a) Drops b) Destroys
c) Carries d) Fires
63. Laputa is a:
a) Land b) Capital
c) City d) Flying Island
64. What do "flappers" do for the people of Laputa?
a) Protect them from birds b) Keep them engaged in conversation
c) Introduce them to other people d) Cook food for them
65. In Laputa, tutor is arranged for Gulliver to teach in:
a) Geometry b) Language
c) Music d) Dance
66. Gulliver stayed in Laputa for:
a) I month b) 5 months
c) 3 months d) 2 months
67. What controls the movement of the island of Laputa?
a) Magnetic Force b) Magic
c) A motor d) The wind
68. People of Laputa are obsessed with:
a) Geometry b) Music
c) Astronomy d) All of above
69. Laputa is floating island above:
a) Brobdgingnag b) Sea
c) Balnibarbi d) Houyhnhnms
70. What is different about struldbrugs of luggnagg?
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a) They are blind b) They are immortal

c) They have no need to consume food d) They have no capacity for memory
71. What are experiments called that the academies of Balnibarbi perform?
a) Dissertations b) Grants
c) Projects d) Studies
72. The cave at the centre of island of Laputa is dedicated to:
a) Doctors b) Horses
c) Astronomers d) Musicians
73. On which island Gulliver is given the opportunity to summon the shades of dead?
a) Lagado b) Glubbdubdrib
c) Laputa d) 1.uggnagg
74. During his visit with the governor of Glubbdubdrib, which historical figure's spirit does Gulliver
meet?
a) Aristotle b) Hitler
c) Genghis Khan d) Alexander the great
75. What does the Academy of projects symbolize?
a) Better Inventions b) Creative Inventions
c) Fruitful Inventions d) Useless Inventions
76. What is the significance of the Ghosts?
a) Ghosts tell him that history is distorted
b) They tell that philosophy is faulty
c) They tell that books don't convey authentic Knowledge
d) All of these
77. How long it took Gulliver to reach Japan?
a) 4 weeks b) 10 wecks
c) 3 weeks d) 5 weeks
78. What is the name of the ship in which Gulliver travels to Houyhnhnms?
a) Antelope b) Adventure
c) Laputa d) Tonquin
79. Which of the following concepts were not seen in Houyhnhnms?
a) Lying b) Truth
c) Falsehood d) Both a & c
80. Who coined the word "Yahoo" and "Lilliput"?
a) Bacon b) Jonathan Swift
c) Lamb d) Hardy
81. Gulliver returns to England from Houyhnhnms on:
a) 5th Nov, 1715 b) 6th Nov. 1715
c) 5th Nov, 1716 d) None
82. Yahoos are:
a) Cunning b) Revengeful
c) cowards d) All
83. What is the most important trait of Gulliver's
a) Cunning b) Confidence
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c ) Intelligent d) Enthusiasm
84. Which is the following language was not known by Gulliver?
a) German b) Spanish
c) Italian d) Dutch
85. What is the primary engine for Gulliver travels?
A) Ingenuity b) Custom
c) Languages d) Both b & c
86. Houyhnhnms represents:
a) Warfare b) Dystopia
c) Perfection of nature d) None
87. How much time does Gulliver take to learn the language of Houyhnhnms?
a) 5 weeks b) 3 weeks
c) 9 weeks d) 10 weeks
88. Who saved Gulliver in an unknown country?
a) Cats b) Mouse
c) Horse d) Dog
89. Houyhnhnms are?
a) Cats b) Mouse
c) Horse d) Dog
90. Yahoos are as:
a) Cat b) Humans should be
c) Humans are d) Rats are
91. Houyhnhnms are as:
a) Cat b) Humans should be
c) Humans are d) Rats are
92. Yahoos like stones.
a) Worthless b) Shining
c) Black d) Sea Stones
93. Gulliverwants to leave the land of Houyhnhnms.
a) Surely b) Does not
c) At once d) Timely
94. Gulliver is now convinced that Humans are:
a) dog b) Worst Species
c) Improving d) Perfect
95. Horses consider Gulliver as a Yahoo with
a) Horns b) Sense and Dress
c) Hair d) Rats
96. Gulliver is forcibly
a) Detained b) Sent Back
c) Imprisoned d) Declared a Horse
97. Gulliver after reaching London:
a) Spends time with his family b) Spends with Horses
c) Starts working as a teacher d) Starts loving Rats
98. Gulliver's Travels is a tale for kids.
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a) True b) Fancy
c) Horror d) Unbelievable
99. Gulliver was about Swift was not.
a) Therapist b) Misanthropist
c) Philanthropist d) Writer
Some More MCQs

1. Which of the following kinds of specialization language does Swift not ridicule?
a. Legal b. Naval c. Culinary d. Scientific
2. Which of the human societies that he visits does Gulliver find most appealing?
a. Lagado b. Brobdingnag c. England d. Blefuscu
3. Which of the following adjectives best describe Gulliver’s personality in the first three voyages?
a. Direct and perspicacious c. Gullible and honest
b. Cynical and bitter d. Kind and condescending
4. How does Gulliver and up stranded in Lilliput?
a. He survive a shipwreck
b. His crew abandons him
c. He is dropped there by an enormous edges
d. He stops there for provisions and is trapped while he sleeps
5. How do the Lilliputians offer Gulliver something to drink?
a. They break down their town reservoir c. They summon the rains
b. They divert a river d. They roll out barrels of wine
6. How does Gulliver earn the title of Nardac in Lilliput?
a. By capturing the Blefuscudian fleet
b. By putting out fire in the empress’s is quarters
c. By showing lenience toward a group of soldiers who earlier attack him
d. By helping the Lilliputians construct a new palace
7. Instead of killing him outright, the Lilliputians decide on which of the following punishment for Gulliver?
a. Blinding him and slowly starving him to death
b. Exiling him
c. Cutting off his hands
d. Poisoning him
8. What is the line of doctrine over which the Blefuscudians and Lilliputians differ?
a. “All true believers shall break their eggs at the small end.”
b. “All true believers shall break their eggs at the big end.”
c. “All true believers shall break their eggs as they see fit.”
d. “All true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end.”
9. Who is Gulliver’s main caretaker in Brobdingnag?
a. The farmer b. The queen c. Reldresal d. Glumdalclitch
10. How does Gulliver leave Brobdingnag?
a. He builds himself a sailboat
b. He is exiled
c. He is carried away by a giants eagle
d. He is taken back to England by Don Pedro
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11. Who first discovers Gulliver in Brobdingnag?

a. The farmer b. A field worker c. Glumdalclitch d. Lord Munodi
12. What does the farmer make Gulliver do in order to earn money?
a. Preforms tricks for spectators c. Work in the fields
b. Spy on neighboring farmers d. Kill rats
13. Who is Gulliver’s main enemy in the royal court of Brobdingnag?
a. The dwarf b. The king c. The queen d. Reldresal
14. What human invention does Gulliver propose to the king of Brobdingnag that the king finds revolting?
a. Gunpowder b. Christianity c. Lawyers d. Lying
15. How does Gulliver end up in Laputa?
a. Pirates attack his ship c. He is shipwrecked
b. His crew mutinies d. He stops there for provisions
16. What do “flappers” do for the people Laputa?
a. Keep them cool by fanning them c. Keep them engaged in conversations
b. Protect them from birds and insects d. Introduce them to other people
17. Why does Gulliver seem stupid to the Laputans?
a. He does not speak their language
b. He is ignorant of music and mathematics
c. He is unwilling to use a flapper
d. He does not understand how the floating island works
18. Why does Gulliver summon the shades of Rene Descartes and Pierre Gassendi to talk to Aristotle?
a. Descartes and Gassendi were supporters of Aristotle’s theories
b. Descartes, Gassendi, and Aristotle were all political satirists
c. Descartes and Gassendi were philosophers
d. Descartes and Gassendi were friends of Swift
19. Why is Gulliver exiled from the land of the Houyhnhnms?
a. He urinates on the queen’s palace
b. He steals from his Houyhnhnms master
c. The Houyhnhnms decide that it is not right for a Yahoo to live among them
d. The Houyhnhnms decide to exterminate the Yahoos
20. Why is Lord Munodi looked down upon by the government in Lagado?
a. He uses traditional methods of agriculture and architecture
b. He is ignorant of music and mathematics
c. He break his eggs on the title end
d. He once tried to lead a coup against the current government
21. Who are Gulliver’s closest friends after he returns from his time with the Houyhnhnms?
a. His wife and children c. Two horses
b. Lord Munodi d. Don Perdo de Mendez
22. How does the king of Luggnagg dispose of his enemies in the court?
a. By slipping poison of Luggnagg dispose of his to his health
b. By poisoning the floor they are required to lick as they approach him
c. By poisoning their clothes
d. By exiling them from the island
23. On which island is Gulliver given the opportunity to summon the shades of the dead?
a. Luggnagg b. Glubbubdrib c. Laputa d. Lagado
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24. What is different about the Struldbrugs of Luggnagg?

a. They are immortal c. They have capacity for memory
b. They are blind d. They have no need to consume foot
25. Which of the following places does Gulliver last?
a. Brobdingnag b. Lilliput c. Houyhnhnmland d. Lapu
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3. Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729).
Steele, an original genius, founded The Tatler on April 12, 1709. It was inspired by Defoe's The
Review. it is the first of the long line of eighteenth century periodical essays. Expounding the
purpose of The Tatler he wrote to Maynwaring: "The general purpose of this paper is to expose
the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity and affectations, and to
recommend general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behavior." Its scope was
comprehensive. It contained accounts of gallantry, pleasure and entertainment, poetry, learning,
foreign and domestic news. Steele treated of everything that was going on in the town. He paints
as a social humorist the whole age of Queen Anne the political and literary disputes, the fine
gentlemen and ladies, the characters of men, the humors of society, the new book, the new play;
we live in the very streets and drawing-rooms of old London.
The Tatler appeared three times a week. At the beginning, it was practically written by Steele
alone. Steele wrote under the pseudonym of Mr. Bickerstaff, which he borrowed from Swift.
Addison also began to contribute to The Tatler, and occasionally other writers also contributed
essays on the new social life of England. The Tatler became immensely popular but it was
discontinued on Jan. 2, 1711. Steele had contributed one hundred and seventy papers to it
when it came to an end.
Steele was the originator of The Tatler and joined with Addison in creating The Spectator in 1711.
The new paper appeared daily. In The Tatler Addison had been an occasional, and latterly a
frequent contributor, in The Spectator they were coadjutors from the start. Steele being an original
genius suggested the idea of the Spectator and his club. The human figure of the Spectator,
surrounded by the club of representatives of various grades and classes of society, was an immense
improvement on The Tatler's crude machinery of the coffee houses, and its shadowy figure of
Bickerstaff. Herein consists the superiority of The Spoctator. The Spectator would lose its charm
without Sir Roger, Sir Andrew, Will Heneycomb and the Spectator himself. The former is a
collection of disconnected essays, but there is a sort of unity in the latter due to the presence of
these characters. W. J. Long remarks: "It is often impossible in The Tatler essays to separate the
work of two men, but the majority of critics hold that the more original parts, the characters, the
thought, the overflowing kindliness, are largely Steele's creation, while to Addison fell the work
of polishing and perfecting the essays, and of adding that touch of humour which made them the
most welcome literary visitors that England had ever received."
Steele's papers have sincerity, frankness and genuine autobiographical touches. Commenting on
the co-authorship of Steele and Addison, Rickett writes: "Addison and Steele were admirably
suited as co-craftsmen, for each could give what the other lacked. Steele brought to his work a
wide experience of life, generous sympathies, and a sunny humour; Addison brought a wide
experience of literature, a polished style, and just a pleasant tang of acidity in his humour. Both
were moralists at heart, with much the same outlook on the society of their day. Yet there were
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sufficient differences in temperament and in gilts to be of real service, in giving breadth and
diversity to the work they accomplished
In the short span of four years in which Addison and Steele worked together, the periodical essay
was established as one of the most important forms of literature, and the literary magazine won its
place as the expression of the social life of the nation.
4. Joseph Addison (1672-1719).

Macaulay summed up Addison's greatness as a writer in the following words: "Such a mark of
national respect was due to the unsullied statesman, to the accomplished scholar, to the man of
pure English eloquence, to the consummate painter of life and manners. It was due, above all, to
the great satirist who alone knew how to use ridicule without abusing it, who, without inflicting a
wound, effected a great social reform, and who reconciled wit with virtuo after a long and
disastrous separation, during which wit had been led astray by profligacy and virtue by fanaticism."
This remarkable eulogy brings to light the memorable contribution of Addison to life and literature.
He was a great social critic and reformer who brought about a revolutionary change in the quality
of life in contemporary England through his contributions to The Spectator, a periodical which he
founded in collaboration with Sir Richard Steele. Addison's memorable contribution is summed
up below:
(1) Social Criticism: In The Spectator Addison appears as a consummate painter of contemporary
life and manners. He was, indeed, an informed observer, a judicious critic of manners and
characters. Addison aimed at social reformation, at establishing a rational standard of conduct in
morais, manners, art and literature. His task was to recover the people out of that desperate state
of vice and folly into, which the age had fallen. He had brought philosophy "out of closets and
libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea tables and in coffee houses."
It was his task "to enliven morality with wit and to temper wit with morality." In order to create a
rational standard of conduct, he had to influence public opinion. So, Addison's opinion which. In
spite of its durable solidity seems, like the great Gothic Cathedrals, to absorb into itself the
individuality of the architect."
Addison was the reconciler of hostile parties and the founder of public opinion. Two ideals of
conduct guided the Court and the Puritans. The Puritans, averse to all the pleasure of sense, and
intolerant of the most harmless of natural instincts, had oppressed the nation with a religious
despotism. The nation groaning under the yoke, brought back its banished monarch, but soon was
shocked to find sensual pleasure exalted into a - worship and impiety into a creed. The two parties
- the Court and the Puritans - maintained a truceless conflict of opinion. As a reconciler of parties.
Addison exposed the excesses of both. This harsh antagonism of sentiment is humorously
illustrated by the excellent Sir Roger, who is made to moralise the stupidity of party spirit. He
good-humouredly presents the courtier and sophisticated gentlemen with a grace and charm of
manner so that they might understand that true religion was not opposed to good breeding. To this
class in particular he addressed his papers "On Devotion", "On Prayer", "On Faith", "On Temporal
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and External Happiness". On the other hand, he brought his raillery to bear upon the super
solemnity of the trading and professional classes, in whom the spirit of Puritanism was most
prevalent. It was for the benefit of this class that he wrote his three essays on Cheerfulness, in
which the gloom of the Puritan creed is corrected by argument founded on natural religion.
The court after the Restoration was for the moment the sole school for the manners, and the
dramatists only reflected on the stage, the inverted ideas which were accepted in court as the
standard of good breeding. All sentiments founded on reverence for religion or the family, or
honourable industry were banished from the drama because they were unacceptable at the court.
Addison saw that these unnatural creations of the theatre were the product of the corruption of
society, and that it was man, not institutions that needed reform. Addison exposes the ridiculous
principle of the fashionable comedy by a simple statement of fact. "Cuckoldom," says he, "is the
basis of most of our plays.......Our English writers are frequently severe upon this innocent, happy
creature, commonly known by the name of a cuckold, as the ancient comic writers were on eating
parasite or a vainglorious soldier." Addison's penetrating wit, founded as it was on truth and reason,
was appreciated by the fashionable world. Dormant and Sir Fopling Flutter felt ashamed of
themselves. The cuckold disappeared from the stage. In society itself marriage no longer appeared
ridiculous. Addison remarked: "I am glad to find, in particular, my discourses on marriage have
been well received". He corrected the shameless licence and shallowness of restoration manners.
In the field of politics Addison perceived the absurdity of the party system. He regarded it as the
parent of hypocrisy and self-deception. The stand of the Spectator was "I never espoused any party
with violence, and am resolved to observe an exact neutrality between the Whigs and Tories."Sir
Roger De Coverly "often closes his narrative with reflection on the mischief that parties do in the
country. The spectator observes "The influence is very fatal, both to men's morals and to their
understandings; it sinks the virtue of a nation, and not only so, but destroys even commonsense."
Addison also exposed the trifles which engaged the attention of fashionable women. He ironically
laughed at the follies and foibles of ladies. Wifely extravagances were rebuked; giggling damsels
in church were reproved, the feminine violence in party politics was ridiculed. Addison writes:
"The toilet is their great scene of business and the right enjoyment of their hair the principal
enjoyment of their lives.... This I say is the state of ordinary woman: though I know there are
multitudes of those of a more elevated life and conversation that move in an exalted sphere of
knowledge and virtue, that join all the beauties of mind to the ornament of dress, and inspire a kind
of awe and respect, as well as of love into their male beholders. I hope to increase the number of
these by publishing this daily paper..... and divert the minds of the female readers from greater
trifles."
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Addison's social criticism contains all the materials for the modern novel of social life. There is an
inherent moral purpose in Addison's social criticism. The purpose of The Spectator was to enliven
morality with wit and to temper wit with morality. Macaulay says about Addison: "So effectually
did he report on vice and the mockery which had recently been directed against virtue that since
his time the open violation of decency has always been considered amongst us a sure mark of a
fool." In all things Addison advocated moderation and tolerance, and was the enemy of enthusiasm.
(i) Addison's Humor and Satire: Addison is a genial humorist. His humour is humane, serene
and impartial, and reflects the nobility of his temperament. He had a keen sense of the ludicrous.
He knew how to use ridicule without abusing it. He was the gentle satirist "who hit no unfair blow,
the kind of judge who castigated only in smiling." Addison good-humoredly exposed only minor
lapses and small sins against society. The feeling with which he looked on most of his erring
companions was one of benevolence, slightly tinctured with contempt. He had the unique sense of
the ludicrous, of awakening that sense in others, and of drawing mirth from incidents which occur
everyday, and from little peculiarities of temper and manner, such as we find in every man.
Addison's power of ridiculing keenly without malignity is of course boost shown in his character
of Sir Roger De Coverly whose delightful simplicity of mind is made the medium of much good-
natured satire on the manners of the Tory country gentleman of the period. The mixture of
fashionable contempt for book learning blended with shrewd mother-wit is well represented in the
character of Will Honeycomb who had the discretion to go out of his depth and had often a certain
way of making his real ignorance appear a seeming one. Commenting on Addison's humour
Macaulay writes: "The mirth of Addison is consistent with tender compassion for all that is frail,
and with profound reverence for all that is sublime. Nothing great, nothing amiable, no moral duty,
no doctrine of natural or revealed religion, has ever been associated by Addison with any degrading
idea..... But of Addison, it may be confidently affirmed that he has blackened no man's character,
nay, that it would be difficult to find in all volumes which he has left us a single taunt which can
be called ungenerous or unkind."
(ii) Addison's Prose Style: "Addison may be said," writes Courthope, "to have almost created and
wholly perfected English prose as an instrument for the expression of social thought. He took
features of his style from almost all his predecessors. He assumed the character of essayist,
moralist, philosopher and critic, but he blended them altogether in his new capacity of journalist.
Rickett writes about his style: "If we compare Addison's prose with the prose of Milton or Hooker
or Bacon, we shall realise the delightful plasticity, the delightful nuances of mood and fancy for
which Addison finds expression..... In The Tatler and The Spectator we have the beginning of that
genial intimacy of the writer with the reader, which was to lind so rare a following at a later time
in Elia, in Hazlitt, and in Thackeray."
Addison's style is noticeable for neatness and lucidity of expression. He represents in this manner
"our indispensable eighteenth century. His lucidity is partly due to the absence of profound,
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difficult or complex thought. Courthope calls it "that perfection of well-bred ease which arises
from a complete understanding between an author and his audience.
Addison took great care to select words from a rich stock and was careful not to weary his readers
by repetition of the same sound. He laboriously polished and balanced his phrases until the rhythm
was perfect, and the air of good breeding successfully caught. Addison aimed deliberately at beauty
of execution, and treated the pedestrian form with as much respect as though it had been verse. He
used homely expressions when they suited his purpose. In grave passages like "The Vision of
Mirza" or "The Reflections in Westminster Abbey" his diction is naturally more ornate.
Addison used metaphors to impart clarity to his style. He said: "A noble metaphor when it is placed
to an advantage, casts a kind glory round it, and darts a lustre through the whole sentence." A good
example of a simple metaphor finely used is "it is very unhappy for a man to be bom in such stormy
and tempestuous season." According to Dr. Johnson Addison's prose "is the model of the middle
style, on great subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling, pure without scrupulosity,
and exact without elaborate elaboration, always equable and always easy without glowing words
or pointed sentences. His style is never obscure or unmelodious. It was a perfect model of style.
Dr. Johnson writes: "Whoever wishes to attain an English style familiar but not coarse, and
elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison."
Contribution of The Spectator to the Development of Novel

The Spectator has been rightly called the forerunner of novel. There was no novelist in the
age of Pope. Richardson, Smollet, Sterne and Fielding, known as the four wheels of novel,
were in their Infancy. At such a time appeared The Spectator which contains all the elements of
social comedy, except a harmonious plot. The material for the novels of manner or the social
comedy is found in The Coverly Papers, with the exception of the continuity of scheme. The events
are such as occur every day. But "such events can hardly be said to form a plot, yet they are related
with such truth, such grace, such wit, such humour, such pathos, such knowledge of the human
heart, such knowledge of the ways of the world, that they charm us on the hundredth perusal. We
have not least doubt that if Addison had written a novel, on an extensive plan, it would have been
superior to any that we possess. As it is, he is entitled, not only as the greatest of English essayists,
but as the forerunner of the great English novelist.
Addison and Steele show a sure sense of characterisation in The Spectator, which is essential for
the novel. The characters are named and individualised. The character of Sir Roger, which is
artistically delineated, is both type and individual. His dominating presence in The Coverly Papers
imparts a sort of unity, which became an important element in the eighteenth century novel.
Courthope remarks: "Sir Roger De Coverly, with his simplicity, his high sense of honour, and his
old world reminiscences, reflects the typical country gentleman of the best kind." Other characters
too are nicely portrayed and represent various segments of contemporary society. Will Honeycomb
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is a middle-aged beau; Sir Andrew Freeport a city merchant; Captain Sentry a soldier; and Mr.
Spectator a shy, reticent person, who bears a resemblance to Addison himself.
The Spectator, as we have discussed, contains a vivid and realistic picture of contemporary society
in its entirety. Addison and Steele exposed both minor and major lapses in society with a view to
reforming it. Social criticism, coupled with moral edification and reform is one of the main
elements in the art of novel writing, and we find a consistent and comprehensive criticism of
contemporary society for the first time in The Spectator.
According to Raleigh the great novelist must be essentially a humorist, just as a great
romancer must be essentially a poet. The Spectator is suffused with kind and generous humour.
There are many incidents in The Coverly Papers which contain the germs of the future novel. The
incidents in the papers entitled "Sir Roger's Ancestors", "On Ghosts and Apparitions and many
others can be cited for the sake of illustration. "No one can read this, or the multitude of scenes in
The Spectator as vividly conceived and described without perceiving what a novelist English
literature would have in Addison had the times been ripe for the novel. These papers not only
trained the taste of the public in the direction of novel, but increased the number also of the reading
public.
Edward Albert remarks: "If Addison had pinned The Coverly Papers together with a stronger plot;
if, insisted on only referring to the widow who had stolen the Knight's affections, he had introduced
some important female characters, we should have had the first regular novel in our tongue. As it
is, this essay series brings us within measurable distance of the genuine eighteenth century novel."
Addison and Steele: A Comparative Study
Addison and Steele were admirably suited as co-craftsmen, for each could give what the other
lacked. Rickett writes: "Steele brought to his work a wide experience of life, generous sympathies,
and a sunny humour; Addison brought a wide experience of literature, a polished style, and just a
pleasant tang of acidity in his humour. Both were moralists at heart, with much the same outlook
on the society of their day." Despite many similarities, there were sufficient differences in
temperament and literary gifts,
Steele was passionate and full of animal spirits. He was impulsive and given to sensual pleasures.
Steele had a vein of romanticism in him. Addison was rational, reserved and dignified, classical
and balanced.
Steele was more original and inventive. Without Addison he framed the plan of The Tatler, without
Addison, he sketched the outline of the character of Sir Roger De Coverly, and the plan of the
Spectator Club. Addison contributed 274 papers and Richardson. Steele contributed 240 papers to
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"The Spectator". Addison contributed more papers to The Spectator, and they were thought to be
of much higher merit. This has created an impression that Addison was superior to Steele.
Undoubtedly, he is superior to Steele. Hugh Walker remarks: "He is far more finished writer, more
correct, more scholarly, more subtly humorous. Steele's style is like his life, as Thackeray said,
full of faults and careless blunders, and redeemed, like that, by his sweet and compassionate
nature." It was Thackeray too who pointed out the great service done by Steele in his reverence
for the pieties of the home, his respect for women and his love of children. Here he is certainly a
better moralist than Addison...There is such a thing as bare in writing, as well as style, and Steele
at his best is as much superior to Addison in the former quality as he is inferior in the latter."
Steele's papers are remarkable for frankness which makes them extremely attractive. He is
habitually autobiographical. He is doubtless all the more sincere because frequently his self-
revelation is unconscious. He also tells the facts of his life and reveals the feelings of his heart. It
is startling to find him filling a gap in The Tatler with letters which he had written to his own wife.
Addison is reserved and does not tell much about his life.
Summing up the comparative study of Addison and Steele, Edward Albert remarks: "Steele's
working alliance with Addison was so close and so constant that the comparison between them is
also inevitable. Of the two writers, some critics assert that Steele is worthier. His humour is broader
and less restrained than Addison's, with a native, pathetic touch that is reminiscent of Goldsmith.
His pathos is more attractive and humane. But and power; and much of his moralising is cheap
and obvious. He lacks Addison's care Steele's very virtues are only his weaknesses sublimed; they
are emotional, not intellectual, of the heart and not of the head. He is incapable of irony, he lacks
penetration and smoothly polite, ironic insight; he is heedless, incautious in style, and inconsequent
in method. And so, in the final estimate, as great artist he fails."
5. Other Prose Writers of the Period:

John Arbuthnot (1667-1735) is remembered for his political writings, which include the Memoirs
of Martinus Scribierus (1709); The History of John Bull (1712 or 1713) and The Art of Political
Lying. Lord Bolingbroke (1678-1751) wrote on politics and philosophy in an agreeable, lucid
and vigorous style. His works include Letter to Sir William Wyndham, A Letter on the Spirit of
Patriotism and The Idea of a Patriot King. George Berkeley (1685-1753) wrote with much charm
on a diversity of scientific, philosophical and metaphysical subjects. His famous books are The
Principles of Human Knowledge, Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous and Alciphron or
The Minute Philosopher. He has deftly expressed philosophical ideas in language of literary
distinction. Joseph Butler (1692-1752) also belongs to the special literature of philosophy and
theology. Ho is remembered for his Analogy of Religion.
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DRAMA
The drama of Pope's age is almost a blank. The days of the brilliant and exotic flower of
Restoration comedy were over, and nothing of any merit took its place. Addison's Cato (1730) is
the only noteworthy work in the field of tragedy. It was an attempt to introduce to the English stage
the decorous and rhetorical drama of the French school. Steele's The Constant Lover is so
overweighted with ethical purpose as to be, in spite of occasional humour, insipid and dull. Steele's
comedy does not amuse, it preaches. So, he became the founder of that highly genteel, didactic
and vapid kind of play which is known as Sentimental Comedy, and which became popular in the
age of Johnson. George Lillo (1693-1729) established a "domestic drama or form of tragedy, the
characters and incidents of which were to be taken from common life instead of from romance or
history. His famous works are London Merchant (1731) and Fatal Curiosity
Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which Age In English literature is called the Age of Pope?
(a) Earlier part of the 18th century (b) Later part of the 18th century
(c) Both a and b (d) none of these
2. William-III died in
(a) 1700 (b) 1702
(c) 1703 (d) 1704
3. Queen Anne acceded to the throne in
(a) 1701 (b) 1700
(c) 1703 (d) 1702
4. The Age of Pope was an age of unbridled
(a) slender (b) power
(c) debauchery (d) none of these
5. Who said: "The Age of Pope was the golden age of political pamphleteering and
the writers made the most of it"?
(a) A. Brooke (b) Albert
(c) Dryden (d) none of these
6. Who calls the 18th century "an age of prose"?
(a) Matthew Arnold (b) Addison
(c) Hudson (d) none of these
7. Alexander Pope was born in
(a) 1680 (b) 1685
(c) 1688 (d) 1690
8. Pope wrote tolerable verse when he was years old.
(a) ten (b) twelve
(c) thirteen (d) twenty
9. Who said: "If Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found"?
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(a) Dr. Johnson (b) W.J. Long
(c) Edward Albert (d) none of these
10. Who was the dominating figure in the Age of Pope?
(a) Swift (b) Addison
(c) Alexander Pope (d) none of these
11. Who devoted himself completely to literature during the Age of Pope?
(a) Addison (b) Pope
(c) Dr. Johnson (d) none of these
12. The period of the Age of Pope is
(a) 1700-1740 (b) 1700-1744
(c) 1700-1742 (d) none of these
13. The classical school of poetry dominated the poetry of which Age?
(a) Age of Dr. Johnson (b) Age of Dryden
(c) Age of Pope (d) none of these
14. During the Age of Pope, the people were disgusted with the profligacy and frivolity of
which Age?
(a) The Restoration Age (b) Elizabetha Age
(c) Age of Dr. Johnson (d) none of these
15. What are the cheracteristic of the poetry of the Age of Pope?
(a) Didatic an dsatirical
(b) poetry of argument and criticism of politics and personalities
(c) both a and b (d) none these
16. In what aspects were the poets of the Age of Pope Interested?
(a) Town and cultural society
(b) Humbler aspects of life- villagers and shephereds
(c) Love for nature-flowers, songs of birds and landscape
(d) none of these
17. Naturally the poets of the Age of Pope had no regard for the great poets of the human
heart. They were.
(a) Chaucer (b) Shakespeare
(c) Milton (d) all the three
18. What was the prominant medium of expression during Augustan Age?
(a) Poetry (b) Prose
(c) Drama (d) Ballad
19. During the Age of Pope, the rules of exactness, precision and clarity in prose also began
to be applied to
(a) Poetry (b) Novel
(c) Drama (d) none of these
20. At which age, Pope published his "Essay on Criticism" (1711)?
(a) 23 (b) 24
(c) 25 (d) 27
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21. Which is a "mock-heroic" poem of Pope?
(a) The Rape of the Lock (b) Essay on Criticism
(c) The Essay on Man (d) none of these
22. Who had perfected the heroic couplet, and made use of his technical skill in translating
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey?
(a) Pope (b) John Gay
(c) James Thomas (d) none of these
23. Which is Pope's greatest satire in which he attacked all sorts of literary Incompetence?
(a) The Rape of the Lock (b) The Dunciad
(c) The Essay on Man (d) none of these
24. Who is the supreme master of the epigrammatic style of condensing an idea into a line or
couplet?
(a) Thomas Parnell (b) Alexander Pope
25. Matthew Prior wrote long poem/poems which was/were?
(a) Solmon on the Vanity of the World
(b) Alma or The Progress of the Mind
26. Who is the writer of "The Art of Walking the Street of London", a witty parody of the
heroic style?
(a) John Gay (b) Shakespeare
(c) Matthew Prior (d) Edward Young
27. Edward Young's best-known works are
(a) The complaint or Night Thoughts on Life (b) Death and Immortality
28. "Night Thought on Life" by Edward Young is written in
(a) Heroic Couplet (b) Blank Verse
(c) An Epic Poem (d) none of these
29. Who is the earliest literary Journalist in the English language?
(a) Edward Young (b) Alexander Pope
(c) Daniel Defoe (d) none of these
30. Daniel Defoe wrote on which subjects?
(a) social (b) Literary
(c) political (d) all the three
31. At the age of sixty, Defoe turned his attention to the writing of prose fiction and publish
his first novel-which was
(a) Captain Singleton (b) Essay on Criticism
(c) Robinson Cruso (d) none of these
32. Who appropriately called Defoe's works of fiction as "Fictitious biographies" or "History
minus the facts"?
(a) Pope (b) Leslie Stephen
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33. All Defoe's fictions are written in which literary form?
(a) Biographical form (b) Autobiographical form
(c) both a and b (d) none of these
34. On account of all the writing qualities, Defoe is credited with being the originator or
pioneer of the English,
(a) novel (b) poetry
(c) drama (d) none of the
35. Which ability made Defoe one of the masters of English prose?
(a) ideal style (b) natural style
(c) creative style (d) none of these
36. Defoe's interest in contemporary life is produced in
(a) Roxana (b) A New Voyage Round the World
(c) Robinson Crusoe (d) none of these
37 . Jonathan Swift was born in.
(a) 1662 (b) 1663
(c) 1665 (d) 1667
38. Swift wrote a few papers for
(a) The Tatler (b) The Spectator
39. Swift's "The Journal to Stella" is an excellent commentary on
(a) contemporary characters (b) contemporary political events
(c) both a and b (d) none of these
40. The Battle of Books" and "A Tale of a Tub" were among the finest prose satires in
English literature by
(a) Swift (b) Richard Steel
(c) Defoe (d) none of these
41. "A Tale of A Tub" is a satire on the
(a) Dissenters (b) Papists
(c) Church of England (d) All the three
42. "The Gulliver's Travels" by Swift is a famous satire in the form of
(a) poem (b) essay
(c) allegory (d) novel
43. Swift's best-knonw work, which is a very popular children's book and also a bitter attack
on contemporary political and social life in particular, and on the meanness of man in general
was
(a) The Tale of a Tub (b) Gulliver's Travels
(c) Alma or the Progress of the Mind (d) none of these
44. "The Tatler", a periodical was founded by_________ In 1702.
(a) Sir Richard Steele (b) Swift
(c) Joseph Addison (d) none of these
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45. "The Tatler" appeared_______a week.
(a) once (b) two times
(c) three times (d) four times
46. Mr. Bickerstaff was the pseudonym of.____and borrowed it from Swift.
(a) Richard Steel (b) Addison
(c) John Arbuthnot (d) none of these
47. Steele had contributed ____ papers to "The Tatler" when it came to an end in 1711.
(a) 150 (b) 159
(c) 165 (d) 170
48. Who were the co-authors in "The Spectator"?
(a) Matthew Prior and John Gay (b) John Gay and Edward young
(c) Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele (d) none of these
49. Who was more original and led the way by founding "The Tatler", the first long line of
18th century periodical essays?
(a) Steele (b) Addison
(c) John Gay (d) none of these
50. The Spectator" was started in
(a) 1710 (b) 1711
(c) 1712 (d) 1714 51
51. How many essays did contain "the Spectator" in its complete form?
(a) 620 (b) 635
(c) 640 (d) 650
52. How many essays did Addison write in "The Spectator"?
(a) 274 (b) 275
(c) 276 (d) 280
53. How many essays did Sir Richard Steele write in "The Spectator"?
(a) 220 (b) 230
(c) 240 (d) 250
54. Wnose task was it "to enliven morality with wit and to temper wit with morality"?
(a) Joseph Addison (b) Steelo
(c) Swift (d) none of these
55. Who corrected the shameless licence and shallowness of restoration manners?
(a) Addison (b) Steele
(c) Swift (d) none of these
56. Both Steele and Addison were the great masters of
(a) poetry (b) drama
(c) prose (d) none of these
57. "Whoever wishes to attain an English style, famillar but not coarse, and elegant but not
ostentations, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison". Who passed these
remarks about Addison?
(a) Dr. Johnson (b) Ben Jonson
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(c) John Dryden (d) none of these
AUGUSTAN AGE
NEO CLASSICAL AGE
1. This age is also known as age of
a) William II b) Reason
c) Feelings d) Death
2. The Enlightenment also begins to develop in consequence of the changes brought by
the______revolution.
a) Russian b) Scientific
c) Agrarian d) Bloody
3. Leviathan was written by:
a) Shakespeare b) Thomas Hobbes
c) Locke d) Hardy
4. Leviathan means:
a) Patriotism b) Morality
c) Bird d) Sea Monster
5. Second Treatise on Civil Government 1689 was written by:
a) Shakespeare b) Hobbes
c) John Locke d) Hardy
6. Candide was written by:
a) Shakespeare b) Hobbes
c) John Locke d) Voltaire
7. The Social Contract was written by:
a) Rousseau b) Hobbes
c) Give d) Voltaire
8. 18th Century is divided into Age of Pope and Age of
a) Dryden b) Johnson
c) Locke d) Hardy
9. The most prominent Poet and satirist of the English Augustan period is:
a) Dryden b) Pope
c) Give d) Burke
10. 'The Rape of the Lock' is a poem
a) Sonnet b) Epic
c) Serious d) Mock Heroic
11. Alexander Pope was born in 1688 and was a
a) Either b) Protestant
c) Catholic d) Pagan
12. Glorious Revolution came in:
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a) 1688 b) 1866
c) 1677 d) 1888
13. His height was 4 feet 6 inches
a) Lincoln b)Pope
c) Horace d) Ovid
14. 'The Holy Fair' was written by:
a) Eli b) Dickinson
c) Burns d) Frost
15. Robinson Crusoe was written by:
a) John Donne b) John Green
c) Hardy d) Daniel Defoe
16. Gulliver's Travels was by:
a) Jonathan Swift b) Pope
c) Dryden d) John Green
17. A Tale of a Tub is written by
a) Dryden b) Pope
c) Green d) Swift
18. Swift is alleged as
a) Misanthropist b) Humanist
c) Cynical d) Critic
19. 'A Dictionary of the English Language' was written by:
a) Dr. Johnson b) Chaucer
c) Shaw d) Webster
20.Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding is based on:
a) Arabella b) Submit
c) Shamela d) Pamela
21. Father of Novel:
a) Henry Fielding b) Johnson
c) Shaw d) Defoe
22. Richard Brinsley Sheridan is famous for his Comedy of Manner work:
a) A Passage b) Private Life
c) School for Scandal d) India
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The Age of Pope (Practice MCQ’s)

I. The age of classical age of England. is called the
(a) Augustus (b) Queen Elizabeth
(c) Queen Anne (d) Louis XIV
2. The Methodist Revival began in the century.
(a) 17th (b) 18th
th
(c) 19 (d) 20
3. The heroic tragedy was introduced by
(a) Otway (b) Sir William Davenant
(c) Corneille (d) Dryden
4. Who is known as 'ploughman poet"?
(a) Arnold (b) Wordsworth
(c) Thomson (d) Burns
5. What is meant by "the churchyard school of poets»?
(a) The poetry that suffered
(b) The poetry about the from melancholic strain church
(c) Both (a) & (b) (d) None of these
6. Who wrote "Essay on Boswell's Life"?
(a) Macaulay (b) T. S. Eliot
(c) Goldsmith (d) None of these
7. The transitional poets replaced the Neo-classical Heroic couplet by
(a) The four lined stanza (b) Spenserian stanza
(c) The heroic quatrain (d) All these
8. The movement of return to nature has to do with
(a) The Neo-Classical Age (b) The Romantic Age
(c) The Pre-Romantic Age
9. The Tory party fell from power in the year
(a) 170 (b) 1702
(c) 1711 (d) 1702
10. What is the name of the first daily newspaper?
(a) Gazetta (b) The Daily Courant
(c) The Tatler (d) None of these
11. The Daily Courant the first daily newspaper came out in the year
(a) 1642 (b) 1682
(c) 1700 (d) 1702
12. Who is considered to be the first literary philosopher?
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(a) George Berkeley (b) Arbuthnot
(c) Addison (d) None of these
13. George II ascended to the throne in the year
(a) 1727 (b) 1728
(c) 1729 (d) 1730
14. The picaresque novel Gil Bilas by Le Sage is
(a) An English novel (b) A French novel
(c) A Spanish novel (d) A Latin novel
15. The Monk is a gothic novel by
(a) M.G. Lewis (b) Mrs. Shelley
(c) Walpole (d) Clara Reeve
16. James Watt invents the steam engine in
(a) 1836 (b) 1814
(c) 1784 (d) 1798
17. Louis XVI of France was executed by the revolutionaries in
(a) 1799 (b) 1793
(c) 1765 (d) 1789
18. What is a picaresque novel?
(a) A novel whose hero is a villain (b) A novel whose hero is a knight
(e) A novel whose hero is a wandering rogue
(d) A novel whose hero is subordinate to the heroine
19. The Whig ministry in the parliament passed the Licensing Act in
(a) 1747 (b) 1832
(c) 1742 (d) 1789
20. Who among the following were Jacobite’s?
(a) The Tories (b) The Whigs
(c) The Cavaliers (d) None of these
21. Nightmare Abbey is a novel by
(a) Peacock (b) Walpole
(c) Austen (d) None of these
22. Falkland is a character in
(a) Nightmare Abbey (b) Ruth
(c) Caleb Williams (d) None of these
23. God made the country and manmade the town. This is suggestive of
(a) Neo-classics' preference for the human Nature and the town life
(b) Pre-Romantics' preference for the physical nature and the country life.
(0) The transition from neo- classicism to Romanticism
(d) All these three
24.Queen Caroline died in the year
(a) 1735 (b) 1737
(c) 1739 (d) 1741
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25. Queen Anne succeeded to the throne in
(a) 1702 (b) 1704
(c) 1706 (d) 1708
Alexander Pope
26. "What oft was thought but never so well expressed" is an epigram which can be
associated with
(a) Alexander Pope (b) John Dryden
(c) Dr. Johnson (d) Jonathan Swift
27. In Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" the character Atticus refers to
(a) Jonathan Swift (b) John Dryden
(c) Addison (d) Steele
28. In Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" the character Sporus refers to
(3) Lord Hervey (b) Addison
(c) Jonathan Swift (d) John Dryden
29. The age of Pope is called
(a) Elizabethan Age (b) Victorian Age
(c) Augustan Age. (d) Georgian Age
30. In the age of Pope
(a) Poetry was inspired by passion. and imagination
(b) Form was less important than the unrestrained expression of emotion
(c) Poetry charged with was artificiality of expression
(d) Attention came to be directed to correctness and neatness of expression and the critical rules
of art .
31. The term neo-classical in English literature means
(a) A new kind of literature (b) An old and outdated literature
(c) The work of the writers of classical antiquity presented to the poets and critics of the age the
best of models and the ultimate standards of literary taste
(d) Literature of classical writers
32. "Essay on Criticism" is associated with which of the following authors?
(a) John Dryden (b)Alexander Pope
(c) Dr. Johnson (d) Matthew Arnold
33. The reason why Augustan' has been applied to the Age of Pope is
(a) King Augustus ruled in England at that time
(b) The poetry during this period was very holy
(c) Augustus is the name of a poet
(d) The Age of Augustus was the golden age of Latin literature and the age of Pope were
regarded as the golden age of English literature
34. The literature during the age of Pope
(a) Was didactic and satirical (b) Believed in arts for arts sake
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(c) Was a literature of emotion and passion? (d) Had 'delight' as the main function
35. Epistle in Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" means
(a) A short story written for Dr. Arbuthnot
(b) An eulogy for Dr. Arbuthnot
(c) A letter (d) A panegyric
36. The occasion for the publication of Pope's" An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" was
(a) He wanted to satirise Dr. Arbutimot
(b) He wanted to attack the Whig party
(c) He wanted to make a reply to Dr. Arbuthnot's letter
(d) he wanted to defend himself against criticism of his person and his morals by some persons
37. Which of the following statements about Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is not
correct
(a) Pope expresses his feeling of irritation and annoyance at the visits of a large number of
poetasters who come with their verses to get his opinion about their poetic ability and to obtain
help
(b) Pope is bent upon exposing the stupidity of these poetasters through the Epistle
(c) Pope defends himself against criticism
(d) Pope was very sad about his criticism by some people and he expresses this sorrow to his
friend Dr. Arbuthnot
38. Which of the following statements about Pope's 'Epistle' is true?
(a) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is a satire on contemporary society
(b) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" was written by its author in self- defense
(c) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is a mock-epic poem
(d) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is an allegory
39. In the " Advertisement" which precedes the poem
(a) Pope has advertised his poem
(b) Pope has expressed his obligation towards publication of this poem the
(c) Pope has made his comments about advertisements commercial
(d) Pope has explained the reason for the publication of this poem and the manner in which it had
been composed
40,. In "Advertisement" which precedes the poem "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot", Pope
refers to "the authors of verses to the Imitator of Horace and of an Epistle to a Doctor of
Divinity from a Nobleman at Hampton Court". To whom does Pope refer by The
Authors?"
(a) The author of these poems were Lord Harvey and Lady Mary Montagu
(b) The authors were Dryden and
(c) The authors' means Pope and his wife
(d) The authors of these poems are imaginary
41. Which of the following statements about Pope's "Epistle" is true?
(a) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is (a) a criticism of Augustan society
(6) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is a highly autobiographical poem
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(c) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" expresses Pope's philosophy of life
(d) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" is a letter condemning Dr. Arbuthnot
42. Which of the following poems has not been written by Pope?
(a) "The Rape of the Lock" (b) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot"
(c) "An Epistle to a Doctor of Divinity" (d) "The Essay on Criticism"
43. Which of the following poems has been written by Pope?
(a) "The Medal" (b) "Mac Flecknoe"
(c) "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (6) "The Dunciad"
44. Which of the following statements about Dr. Arbuthnot is true.
(a) Dr. Arbuthnot was a great scholar in philosophy
(b) Dr. Arbuthnot was a physician who had treated Pope
(c) Dr. Arbuthnot is an imaginary character
(d) Dr. Arbuthnot is Pope himself
45. In the opening lines of "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "Shut, shut the door, good John!
Fatigued I said" 'I' refers to
(a) Dr. Arbuthnot (b) Alexander Pope
(c) A character who is afraid of ghosts (d) A character who is afraid of robbers
46. In the opening lines of "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "Shut, shut the door, good John!
fatigued I said" the speaker wants the door to be shut against
(a) Robbers (b) Ghosts
(c) Poetasters (d) Dr. Arbuthnot
47. In the following lines from" An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "All fly to Twit'nam, and in
humble strain Apply to me, to keep them mad or vain" Twit'nam is Twickenham, what is
this Twickenham
(a) The name of a river (b) The name of a bird
(c) It is the name of a place where the house of Pope was situated
(d) The name of the writer's friend
48. Read the following lines from Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "Friend to my life
(which did not you prolong, The world had wanted many an idle song)" 'Friend' refers to
(a) Dr. Arbuthnot (b) Robert Walpole
(c) James (d) Alexander Pope
49. The following lines have been taken from which poem of Alexander Pope? "Willing to
wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike"
(a) "The Rape of the Lock" (b) "The Dunciad"
(c) "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" (d) "The Essay on Man"
50. Read the following lines from "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "His life, tho' long, to
sickness past unknown, His death was instant, and without a groan" 'His' in the above lines
refers to
(a) Alexander Pope's father (b) Dr. Arbuthnot
(c) Dr. Arbuthnot's father (d) Alexander Pope himself
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51. Read the following lines from "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" "Oh grant me thus to live,
and thus to die! Who sprung from Kings shall know less joy than I" What kind of a life the
poet desires, which would make him happier than people born in a royal family?
(a) The poet wants to be a very rich man
(b) The poet wants to pass a life without sickness as his father did
(c) The poet craves for fame.
(d) The poet desires for a very humble life
52. There is a reference to Sporus in Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" 'Let Sporus
tremble' What? that thing of silk, "Sporus, that mere white curd of Ass's milk? Satire or
Sense alas! Can Sporus feel?" Who was Sporus?
(a) Sporus was the name of a cunuch at the court of the ancient Roman emperor
(b) Sporus was a king of England
(c) Sporus was a Roman King
(d) Sporus was the name of a mythological animal
53. In Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" there is also reference of Jonathan Swift. I
found him close with Swift'. Which of the following statement is correct?
(a) Pope and Swift belong to different periods
(b) Pope and Swift were contemporary and they were at dagger's drawn
(c) Pope and Swift were contemporary and were good friends
(d) Pope criticized Swift in "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot"
54. Read the following lines: "Proud, as Apollo on his forked. hill/State full- blown Bufo,
puffed by every quill". Bufo in the above lines refers to
(a) A common name (b) King ruling England at that time
(c) Bufo is the name that Pope gives to man who claims to be a patron of poets and who
therefore takes airs of importance
(d) A critic who criticized Pope very bitterly
55. In the following line: "And he, whose Fustian's so sublimely bad". It refers to
(a) Oxymoron (b) Antithesis
(c) Euphemism (d) Innuendo
56. Which of the following statements about Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" may be
correct?
(a) A girl has lost her locks (b) It is a mock heroic poem
(c) It is an epic poem (d) It is an anti-sentimental comedy
57. Which of the following statements about Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" may be
correct?
(a) In "The Rape of the Lock", Pope Mocks at the artificial social "life of 18th century London
(b) Pope wrote this to have his revenge on all those who had criticized, sometimes unjustly, his
translations of Homer and his edition of Shakespeare
(c) Pope satirises corruption in high places
(d) None of these
58. Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" has been written in
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(a) Spensarian Stanza (b) Blank verse
(c) Free verse (d) Heroic couplet
59. In Pope's "Dunciad" which of the following statements may be true?
(a) Theobold, the noted Shakespearean scholar, was crowned the hero of Dunceland
(b) Pope satirises the fashionable women of London
(c) Pope satirises Dryden. (d) One of these
60. "A Little learning is a dangerous thing", this line occurs in
(a) "The Rape of the Lock" (b) "Essay on Criticism"
(c) "Dunciad" (d) "Windsor Forest"
61. "To err is human to forgive divine". this line occurs in:
(a) "The Rape of the Lock" (b) "Essay on Criticism"
62. Who said this about Pope: "The Essay on Criticism" is one of Pope's greatest works,
and if he had written nothing else, it would have placed him among the first critics and the
first poets?
(a) Dr. Johnson (b) John Dryden
(e) Coleridge (d) Arnold
63. "Laugh where we must, be candid where we can/But vindicate the ways of God to
man." This line has been taken from
(a) "The Essay on Man" (b) "The Essay on Criticism"
64."Moral Epistles" was written by
(a) Pope (b) Swift
(c) Goldsmith (d) Steele
65. Who is known as the high priest of a rationalistic and social age?
(a) Johnson (b) Dryden
(c) Goldsmith (d) Pope
66.Who asserted, "To copy nature is to copy them (the ancients)"
(a) Pope (b) Swift
(c) Johnson (d) Tennyson
67. The term 'bathos' was first used by
(a) Pope- (b) Shakespeare
(c) Dryden (d) Arnold
Jonathan Swift
68. Which of the following prose works has not been authored by Swift?
(a) Gulliver's Travels (b) A Tale of a Tub
(c) An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity
(d) Tom Jones
69. Which of the following prose works has been authored by Swift?
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(a) Robinson Crusoe (b) The Pilgrim's Progress
(c) Utopia (d) A Modest Proposal
70. Jonathan Swift belongs to
(a) Age of Chaucer (b) Elizabethan age
(c) Age of Pope (d) Modern age
71. In which of the following category would you put Swift's Gulliver's Travels?
(a) Epic (b) Satire
(c) Tragedy (d) Fairy Tale
72. In Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver sets out on
(a) Four voyages (b) Five voyages
(c) Three voyages (d) Six voyages
73. Which of the following voyages was undertaken by Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels?
(a) Voyage to Brobdingnag (b) Voyage to Congo
(c) Voyage to the Malayan islands (d) voyage to Denmark
74. Which of the following voyages was not undertaken by Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels?
(a) Voyage to Lilliput (b) Voyage to Brobdingnag
(c) Voyage Houyhnhnms to the Land (d) voyage to Congo
75. On reading Swift's Gulliver's Travels one may infer
(a) Nothing is big or small, it is only the way you look at it, relative perception
(b) A man can be destroyed but not defeated
(c) Happiness is but an occasional interlude in the general drama of life
(d) Life is an adventure
76.In Gulliver's Travels Swifts yahoos may be taken as
(a) A symbol of low level to which humanity may degenerate into when the restraints of reason
and society are removed
(b) A symbol of a man's yearning for freedom
(c) The unjustified ways of God to man
(d) A symbol of the English imperialistic attitude
77. In Swift's Gulliver's Travels Lilliput was threatened with an invasion from
(a) The island of Blefuscu (b) Brobdingnag
(c) Japan (d) Mildendo
78. In Swift's Gulliver's Travels, there is a reference to two parties in Liliput which are
antagonistic to each other. These two parties are
(a) The blacks and the whites (b) Tory and Whig
(c) The democrats and the
(d) Tracmecksan and Republicans Slamecksan
79. In Gulliver's Travels for the Man Mountain the Liliputian equivalents is
(a) Quinbus Flestrin (b) Skyris Bolgolam
(c) Limtoc Balonuff (d) Gulliver
80. The character in Gulliver's Travels who brought about an impeachment against
Gulliver in Lilliput was
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(a) Bolgolam (b) Blefuscu
(c) Mildendo (d) Flestrin
81. Which of the following is an article of impeachment against Gulliver in Lilliput?
(a) He had conspired to kill the king
(b) He was clandestinely in love with the queen
(c) He was planning to run away from Lilliput
(d) He had discharged urine within the precincts of the royal palace
82. Voyage to Lilliput is followed by which voyage in Swift's Gulliver's Travels?
(a) Voyage to Brobdingnag (b) Voyage to Laputa
(c) Voyage to Houyhnhnms (d) Voyage to Congo
83. Where does the following line occur? "Nothing is great or little, otherwise than by
comparison"
(c) Voyage to Laputa (d) Voyage to Houyhnhnms
84. What was the name given to Gulliver 84 in his "A Voyage to Brobdingnag"?
(a) Bolgolam (b) Blefuscu
(c) Mildendo (d) Grildrig
85. Lorbrulgrud is a metropolis in Gulliver's
(a) A Voyage to Lilliput (b) A Voyage to Brobdingnag
(c) A Voyage to Laputa (d) A Voyage to Houyhnhnms
86. Glumdalclitch is the name of a girl who looked after Gulliver in his
(a) Voyage of Lilliput (b) Voyage of Brobdingnag
(c) Voyage of Laputa (d) Voyage of Houyhnhnms.
87. The following lines have been taken from which voyage of Gulliver? "This made me
reflect, how vain an attempt is for a man to endeavour doing himself honour among those
who are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him."
(c) Voyage to Laputa (d) Voyage of Houyhnhnms
88.'My little friend Grildrig, you have made as most admirable panegyrick upon your
country. You have clearly proved that ignorance, idleness and vice, are the proper
ingredients for qualifying as a legislator.'
Who is the speaker of these lines?
(a) Gulliver
(b) His Majesty in Gulliver's Voyage to Brobdingnag
(c) The King of England
(d) His Majesty in Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput
89. "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives, to be the most pernicious race of little
odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth. " What
does Swift want to say through these lines?
(a) Swift through these lines has expressed his disgust for the human race
(b) Swift was a human being, he cannot have antipathy for the human race
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(c) Swift is talking about dirty animals crawling upon the surface of the earth
(d) None of these statement are true
90. How did Gulliver escape from Brobdingnag?
(a) He ran away when his escort was sleeping
(b) The box in which he was kept was lifted by an eagle and it chanced that the box was dropped
in an ocean
(c) Gulliver was allowed by the King of the land"
(d) England attacked Brobdingnag and Gulliver was freed
91. Lagado is the capital city in Gulliver's
(c) Voyage to Laputa (d) Voyage to Houyhnhnms
92. Yahoos appear in which of the following voyages of Gulliver?
(a) voyage to Lilliput (b) Voyage to Brobdingnag
(c), Voyage to Laputa (d) Voyage to Houyhnhnms
93. Which of the following statements may be true in the context of Swift's Gulliver's
Travels?
(a) Houyhnhnms is the name of a group of islands
(b) Houyhnhnms is the name of a living thing
(c) Houyhnhnms is the name of river
(d) Houyhnhnms is the name of a mountain
Travels?
(a) Houyhnhnms were the masters and Yahoos their servants
(b) Yahoos were the master and Houyhnhnms their servants
(c) Houyhnhnms and Yahoos were friends
(d) Houyhnhnms and Yahoos were enemies of each other
Travels?
(a) Houyhnhnms were like human beings
(b) Yahoos were like human beings
(c) Gulliver was taken for a Houyhnhnms
(d) Yahoos were like horses
96. Swift has written in Gulliver's Travels: "And when I began to consider, that by
copulating with one of the Yahoo species, I had become a parent of more; it struck me with
the utmost shame, confusion and horror". Which of the following statements are true?
(a) The speaker guilty for copulating
(b) The speaker is disgusted with the morally depraved condition of the Yahoos
(c) The speaker is not feeling guilty about anything
(d) The speaker wanted to live like a hermit, meditating in a forest
97.In which of the voyages of Gulliver, Swift's misanthropy appears the most poignant?
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(c) Voyage to Laputa (d) Voyage to the Houyhnhnms
98.Which of the following books by Swift contains the tale of three sons Peter, Martin and
Jack?
(a) The Battle of the Books (b) A Tale of a Tub
(c )A Modest Proposal (d) Gulliver's Travels
99. Which of the following statements is true?
(a) The Three Sons Peter, Martin and Jack represent the three periods-Classical, Medieval and
Modem, respectively
(b) Peter, Martin and Jack are three brothers quarrelling among themselves for a coat
(c ) Peter, Martin and Jack represent respectively the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of
England and the Protestant dissenters
(d) None of these
100. In Swift's A Modest Proposal
(a) Swift's proposal is simply that both parents and children would suffer infinitely less than they
do at present if young children were fattened and sold for food
(b) Swift's proposal is to get rid of all the books written by the ancients
(c) Swift's proposal is to get rid of all the books written by the moderns
(d) None of these
101. The following line occurs in: 'Whoever has an ambition to be heard in a crowd, must
press, and squeeze and thrust, and climb. indefatigable pains" with
(a) A Tale of a Tub (b) The Battle of the Books
(c) A Modest Proposal (d) Gulliver's Travels
102. Which of the following works of Swift is a satire on the famous controversy regarding
the relative merits of the ancients and the moderns?
(a) A Modest Proposal (b) Polite Conversation
(c) The Battle of the Books (d) Gulliver's Travels
103. Which of the following was a patron of Jonathan Swift?
(a) William Wolton (b) William Temple
(c) Queen Anne (d) James I
104. Which of the following works of Swift is a religious allegory?
(a) Gulliver's Travels (b) Journal to Stella
(c) Polite Conversation (d) A Tale of a Tub
105. Which of the following statements is true?
(a) Swift has vehemently criticized William Temple
(b) Swift sides with his patron, William Temple and defends the ancients, and condemns the
moderns
(c) Swift defends the moderns and condemns the ancients
(d) None of these
106 . In Swift's The Battle of the Books a dispute arises between a spider living in the
corner of the library and a bee that gets caught in the spider's web. Which of the following
statements in this context is true?
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(a) Spider is a symbol of divine will
(b) Spider represents the ancients and the bee the moderns
(c)The bee is like the ancients who go to nature for their honey
(d) None of these
107 . In Swift's The Battle of the Books who is the commander of the ancients?
(a) Dryden (b) Milton
(c) Hobbes (d) William Temple
108. Who said, "I heartily hate and detest that animal called man"?
(a) Orwell (b) Swift
(c) Eliot (d) Pope
Daniel Defoe
109. Who is the author of Mall Flanders?
(a) John Gay (b) Daniel Defoe
(c) Swift (d) Robert Blair
110. In Robinson Crusoe, Man Friday is a
(a) Hero (b) Whiteman
(c) Cannibal (d) Sailor
111. Roxana is a fiction by
(a) Steele (b) Johnson
(c) Defoe (d) Sterne
112. Who has been hailed as the master of illusionist"?
(a) Richardson (b) Sterne
(c) Defoe (d) None of these
113. "The shortest way with the Dissenters", is a remarkable pamphlet written by
(a) Richardson (b) Defoe
(c) Fielding (d) Smollett
114. Defoe was tried, found guilty of seditious libel and was imprisoned. He was released
from prison in
(a) 1704 (b) 1705
(c) 1706 (d) 1707
115. Which book of Defoe made him famous all over Europe?
(a) Moll Flanders (b) Robinson Crusoe
(c) Captain Singleton (d) Roxana
116. "Robinson Crusoe is a study of the human will-of patience fortitude and the
indomitable saxon spirit overcoming all obstacles. It was this element which made-
recommend Robinson Crusoe as, a better treatise on education than anything which
Aristotle or the moderns had ever written." Who said this?
(a) Edmund Burke (b) Gibbon
(c) Rousseau (d) Boswell
117. In which work of Defoe the horrors of a frightful plague are minutely recorded?
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(a) Memoirs of a Cavalier (b) Journal of the Plague Year
(c) Captain Singleton (d) None of the above
118. Defoe was arrested for writing an ironical satire on High Church extremism. Name the
satire?
(a) A Journal of the Plague (b) The Shortest way with year Dissenters
(c) The Complete English
(d) The Complete English Gentleman Tradesman
Joseph Addison
119. The Vision of Mirza is a political allegory by
(a) Addison (b) Swift
(c) Steele (d) Defoe
120. Account of the Greatest English Poets - was written by
(a) Swift (b) Lamb
(c) Bacon (d) Addison
121. Addison's The Drummer is
(a) An opera (b) A masque
(c) A tragedy (d) A prose-comedy
122. The West Indian and The Fashionable Lover are two plays by
(a) Pope (b) Addison
(c) Steel (d) None of these
123. Who said this?
"Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not
ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison."
(a) Dr. Johnson (b) William Hazlitt
(c) Richard Steele (d) Jonathon Swift
124. Which work of Addison offers an excellent example of the rhetoric and fine sentiment,
which are essentials of good writing?
(a) Tatler (b) Spectator
(c) Cato (d) Account of the Greatest English Poets
125. "I shall endeavour to enlighten morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality."
Here"! stands for
(a) Cowley (b) Addison
(c) Steele (d) Defoe
Richard Steele
126. Who among the following, wrote prose comedies?
(c) Dr. Johnson (d) None of these
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127. Who started the journal, The Tatler?
(c) Dr. Johnson (d) Defoe
128. The first number of The Tatler came out in
(a) 1707 ` (b) 1708
(c) 1709 (d) 1710
129. Which author was awarded the position of official gazetteer on account of his talent in
writing political pamphlets?
(a) Addison (b) Swift
( c) Steele (d) Goldsmith
130. Steele at first signed his essays with the name of
(a) Isaac Bickerstaff (b) Isaac Walton
(c) Isaac Mount (d) Isaac Newton
131. The Spectator was a joint enterprise of
(a) Steele and Addison (b) Steele and Sterne
(c) Addison and Sterne (d) Defoe and Steele
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The Age of Pope-2

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THE AGE OF POPE (1700-1775) Augustan Age -OR- 18th

General Characteristics of the Age

Literary Characteristics of the Age

Pope as a Poet or Was Pope a Poet?

Rape of The Lock (Summary)

"The Rape of the Lock" (MCQ’s)

Other Poets of the Period

Defoe's Contribution to Fiction

2 . Jonathan Swift (1667-1745).

Jonathan Swift MCQ’s

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS MCQ’s

11. Antelope was destroyed and Gulliver to a shore.

26, Lilliputians got______ from Blefuscudians by the support of Gulliver.

41. Small Endians Represents.

a) They are blind b) They are immortal

Some More MCQs

11. Who first discovers Gulliver in Brobdingnag?

24. What is different about the Struldbrugs of Luggnagg?

4. Joseph Addison (1672-1719).

Contribution of The Spectator to the Development of Novel

Addison and Steele: A Comparative Study

5. Other Prose Writers of the Period:

Multiple Choice Questions

The Age of Pope (Practice MCQ’s)

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