MCQ on Old English Period to The Renaissance Period | English Literature

MCQ on Old English or Anglo Saxon Period (450-1066)| English Literature

The Old English Period to The Renaissance Period Multiple Choice Questions and Answers | English Literature


MCQs Type Questions Answers on English Literature | Old English Period to Renaissance Period

MCQs Type Questions on Old English Period, Middle English Period and Renaissance Period
Multiple Choice Questions From Old English Period to Renaissance Period | English Literature

Periods of English Literature

450-1066 Old English or Anglo Saxon Period
1066-1500 Middle English Period
1500-1600 The Renaissance Period
1521-1603 Reformation
1558-1603 Elizabethan Age
1603-1625 Jacobean Age
1625-1649 Caroline Period
1625-1660 Commonwealth, Puritanism Age
1660-1700 The Restoration Period
1740-1800 Transition Age, The Age of Johnson
1848-1860 The Pre-Raphaelites
1890-1914 Aesthetic Movement
1912-1914 Imagist Movement
1910-1936 The Georgian Period
1914-1918 War Poetry
1945. The Post Modern Period

Multiple Choice Questions on English Literature

MCQ(s) Old English Period to Renaissance

 01. Which is the oldest period in English Literature? 

 (a) Anglo-Norman 

(b) Anglo-Saxon 

 (c) Chaucer's Period 

(d) Middle 

Ans. b 

02. Which one of the following is first long poem in English?

 (a) The Wanderer 

(b) Beowulf 

 (c) The Seafarer 

(d) Dream of the Road 

Ans. b 


03. Choose the right answer: 

Chaucer is the representative poet of- 

 (a) 17th century 

(b) 14th century 

 (c) 16 the century 

(d) 18th century 

Ans. b 

04. Who is known as the father of English poetry? Who is called the father of English Poetry? 

(a) Milton 

(b) Wordsworth 

 (c) Chaucer 

 (d) Charles Dickens 

Ans. c 

05. Who is the father of Modern English Poetry? 

(a) Cynewulf 

 (b) Geoffrey Chaucer 

 (c) Robert Browning 

 (d) None of the above 

Ans. b 

06. 'The Canterbury Tales' are told by- 

(a) Geoffrey Chaucer 

 (b) John Wycliffe 

 (c) Boccaccio 

 (d) Thomas Barth 

Ans. a 

07. The Canterbury Tales is as alive and _________ today as it was nearly 600 years ago.

Fill in the blank with the following options. 

(a) appealing 

 (b) fruitful 

(c) repelling 

 (d) enchanting 

Ans. a 

08. Among the following which one was written by Geoffrey Chaucer — 

 (a) Canterbury Tales 

 (b) Piers Plowman 

 (c) Morte d‘ Arthur 

 (d) The Maid‘s Tragedy 

Ans. a 

09. Who is considered to be the father of English Poem? 

 (a) William Langland 

 (b) Thomas Moore 

 (c) Rozer Bacon 

 (d) Geoffrey Chaucer 

Anss. d 

10. Who translated the Bible into English for the first time? 

 (a) Nicolas Udall 

 (b) Thomas Norton 

 (c) John Wycliffe 

 (d) Edmund Spenser 

Ans. c 

11. Who translated "The New Testament"? 

(a) Langland 

 (b) John Wycliffe 

 (c) Layamon 

 (d) King Alfred 

Ans. b 

12. The word 'Renaissance' means— 

 (a) regain 

(b) reborn 

 (c) re-arrange 

(d) rebirth 

Ans. d 

13. 'Renaissance' means — 

(a) the revival of learning 

 (b) the revival of hard task 

 (c) the revival of life 

 (d) the revival of new country 

Ans. a 


15. The beginning of the Renaissance may be traced to the city of—

 (a) Venice 

 (b) London 

 (c) Paris 

(d) Florence 

Ans. d 

16. Renaissance is — word. 

 (a) an Italian 

(b) a Russian 

 (c) a European 

 (d) a French 

Ans. a 

17. Where did the Renaissance start from? 

 (a) England 

 (b) Germany 

 (c) Italy 

 (d) U.S.A 

Ans. c 

18. The main feature of the Renaissance is— 

 (a) Humanism 

(b) Utopia 

 (c) Polyolbian 

(d) Opus Majas 

Ans. (a) 

19. Who is the 'University Wits' in the following list? 

 (a) William Shakespeare 

(b) Thomas Gray 

 (c) Robert Greene 

(d) John Dryden 

Ans. c 

20. Elizabethan tragedy is centred on- 

 (a) love 

(b) war 

 (c) revenge 

(d) philosophy 

Ans. c 

21. Which period is known as 'the golden age' of English Literature? 

 (a) the Victorian age 

(b) the Eighteenth century 

 (c) the Restoration 

(d) the Elizabethan Age 

Ans. d 



22. Who wrote the plays “The Tempest‟ and “The Mid Summer Night‟s Dream”?  

 (a) Ben Jonson 

(b) Christopher Marlowe 

 (c) John Dryden 

(d) William Shakespeare 

Ans. d 

23. Julius Caesar was the ruler of Rome about— 

 (a) 1000 years ago 

(b) 1500 years ago 

 (c) 2000 years ago 

 (d) 3000 years ago 

Ans. c 

24. Shakespeare is known mostly for his- 

(a) poetry 

(b) novels 

 (c) autobiography 

 (d) plays 

Ans. d 

25. Which of the following is a play by Shakespeare — 

(a) King Lear 

 (b) The Duchess of Malfi 

(c) Candida 

 (d) Waiting for Godot 

Ans. a 

26. William Shakespeare was an English dramatist and poet of the----- century. 

(a) fifteenth 

 (b) sixteenth 

 (c) fourteenth 

 (d) seventeenth 

Ans. b 

27. Which of the following plays is by William Shakespeare? 

(a) Desire Under the Elms 

(b) Measure for Measure 

 (c) Pygmalion 

 (d) Cocktail Party 

Ans. b 

28. "Shakespeare" is the writer of— 

(a) The Tempest 

(b) The Idea of University 

 (c) The Hairy Ape 

(d) Riders to the Sea 

Ans. a 

29. A sonnet is a lyric poem of— 

(a) 12 lines 

 (b) 24 lines 

 (c) 14 lines 

 (d) 10 lines 

Ans. c 

30. William Shakespeare is the author of— 

(a) Pride and Prejudice 

 (b) Waiting for Godot 

 (c) Sound of Music 

 (d) King Lear 

Ans. d 

31. “Twelfth Night” is— 

(a) a comedy 

 (b) an elegy 

 (c) a novel 

 (d) a tragedy 

Ans. a 

32. Which book is a Tragedy? 

 (a) Hamlet 

 (b) Measure for Measure 

 (c) As you like it 

 (d) She stoops to conquer 

Ans. a 

33. "Macbeth" is — 

(a) a play 

 (b) a novel 

 (c) an essay 

(d) a poem 

Ans. a 

34. William Shakespeare is the author of- 

(a) Paradise Lost 

 (b) Old Man & the Sea 

 (c) Daffodils 

(d) King Lear 

Ans. d 

35. Which is not true of an English sonnet? 

(a) It has fourteen lines 

 (b) It has fourteen syllables in each line 

 (c) It has five feet in each line 

 (d) It is written in iambic pentameter lines 

Ans. b 

36. William Shakespeare is a famous— 

(a) dramatist 

 (b) novelist 

 (c) essayist 

 (d) critic 

Ans. a 

37. The play "Romeo and Juliet" was written by- 

 (a) Charles Dickens 

(b) William Shakespeare 

 (c) Jane Austen 

 (d) Michael Modhusudon 

Ans. b 

38. Who wrote "The Tempest"? 

(a) William Wordsworth 

(b) Ben Jonson 

 (c) William Shakespeare 

 (d) Tennyson 

Ans. c 

39. Romeo and Juliet is a— 

(a) Comedy 

(b) Tragedy 

 (c) Romance 

(d) Morality play 

Ans. b 

40. William Shakespeare is not the author of— 

(a) Titus Andronicus 

 (b) Taming of the Shrew 

 (c) White Devil 

(d) Hamlet 

Ans. c 

41. The poem "Under the Green Wood Tree" was written by— 

(a) William Wordsworth 

 (b) Robert Browning 

 (c) William Shakespeare 

 (d) Ralph Hodgson 

Ans. c 

42. Macbeth is a — by Shakespeare. 

(a) novel 

 (b) short story 

 (c) verse 

 (d) play 

Ans. d 

43. Who is the greatest dramatist of all times? 

(a) G.B. Shaw 

 (b) William Shakespeare 

 (c) William Wordsworth 

(d) Jonathan Swift 

Ans. b 

44. Which of the following is a "Comedy" written by Shakespeare? 

 (a) Macbeth 

 (b) King Lear 

 (c) As You Like It 

(d) Hamlet 

Ans. c 


45. Who is the writer of „The Merchant of Venice‟? 

 (a) Tolstoy 

 (b) William Shakespeare 

 (c) Goethe 

 (d) Edmund Spenser 

Ans. b 

46. Which is known as Shakespeare‟s Swansong? 

(a) Hamlet 

 (b) Macbeth 

 (c) The Tempest 

(d) Twelfth Night 

 Ans. c 

47. "To be or not to be that is the question‟ From which play the above sentence has been taken? 

(a) Macbeth 

(b) Merchant of Venice 

 (c) Tempest 

(d) Hamlet 

Ans. d 

48. One of the following plays is not a tragedy- 

 (a) Hamlet 

(b) Macbeth 

 (c) Othello 

(d) Tempest 

Anss. d 

49. Shakespeare was born in the year--- 

(a) 1540 

(b) 1564 

(c) 1340 

(d) 1610 

Ans. b 


The Old English Period to The Renaissance MCQs Questions with Answers | English Literature

MCQs Type Questions Answers on English Literature | | Old English Period to Renaissance Period | MCQs Type Questions on Old English Period | Middle English Period and Renaissance Period



50. William Shakespeare is a famous ___ century English Playwright 

(a) nineteenth 

(b) sixteenth 

 (d) eighteenth 

(d) fifteenth 

Ans. b 

MCQs on Old English Period to Renaissance| ENGLISH LITERATURE 

1. Shakespeare's "King lear" is a ___ 

(a) Satire 

(b) comedy 

 (c) Tragedy 

(d) Historical Play 

Ans. c 

2. In what year did Shakespeare die?

 (a) 1570 AD 

(b) 1580 AD 

(c) 1630 AD 

(d) 1616 AD 

Ans. D 

3. Shakespeare wrote brilliant--- 

 (a) poems 

(b) essays 

 (c) novels 

(d) dramas 

Anss. d 

4. Hamlet is __ 

(a) a tragedy by Shakespeare 

(b) a play by G.B Shaw 

 (c) a poem by Shelley 

(d) a novel by Hardy 

 Ans. a 

5. 'The Merchant of Venice' is a drama by __ 

(a) Webster 

(b) Ben Jonson 

 (c) William Shakespeare 

 (d) Christopher Marlowe 

Ans. c 

6. Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' is a -- 

 (a) comedy 

(b) satire 

 (c) tragedy 

(d) historical play

 Ans. c 


7. The Unfortunate Traveller has been authored by


(A) Robert Greene

(B) Thomas Deloney

(C) Thomas Nashe

(D) Thomas Lodge

Ans. C


8. Who, among the following, is not a practitioner of Jacobean tragedy?


(A) George Villiers

(B) John Marston

(C) John Webster

(D) Thomas Middleton

Ans. A


9. The author of Nation and Narration is___.


(A) Edward Said

(B) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

(C) Frantz Fanon

(D) Homi Bhabha

Ans. D


10. Which of the following novels has a great impact on the formal experimentation in contemporary fiction?

(A) Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller

(B) Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones

(C) Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy

(D) Samuel Richardson’s Pamela

 Ans. C



11. The phrase ‘Only Connect’ is associated with ___. 


(A) D. H. Lawrence

(B) James Joyce

(C) E. M. Forster

(D) Virginia Woolf

Ans. C



12. Which of the following books is by Margaret Atwood?

(A) The Stone Angel

(B) No Fixed Address

(C) The Edible Woman

(D) Half breed

 Ans. C


13. The expression “murderous innocence” is an example of ___. 

(A) Oxymoron

(B) Zeugma

(C) Chiasmus

(D) Pun

 Ans. A


14. The Enlightenment believed in the universal authority of __.

(A) Religion

(B) Tradition

(C) Reason 

(D) Sentiments

Ans. C 


15. Which of the following works of John Milton is an elegy?

(A) Lycidas

(B) L’Allegro

(C) Camus

(D) Paradise Lost

Ans. A

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MCQ on CHAUCERIAN period

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The poem ‘The Patriot’ is written by -  

(a) Alfred Tennyson  

(c) Mathew Arnold   

(b) Robert Browning  

(d) John Donne  


2. Who wrote ‘The Tempest’?  

(a) William Wordsworth   

(c) William Shakespeare   

(b) Ben Jonson 

 (d) Tennyson 


3. Which book is a Tragedy?  

(a) Hamlet    

(b) Measure for Measure  

(c) As you like it 

(d) She stoops to conquer  


4. The ‘Merchant of Venice’ Written by Shakespeare is - 

(a) A novel 

(b) a short story  

(c) a poem 

(d) a drama  


5. ‘Faerie Queen’ is a - 

(a) play 

(b) short story  

(c) an epic 

(d) novel  


6. Who among the following is a revolutionary poet?  

(a) John Keats 

(b) P.B. Shelly  

(c) S.T. Coleridge 

(d) William Wordsworth  


7. Great Expectations is a novel written by- 

(a) Charles Dickens 

(b) Thomas Hardy  

(c) Jane Austen 

(d) Henry Fielding  


8. Paradise Lost is -  

(a) an epic 

(b) a satirical work  

(c) a tragedy 

(d) a ballad  


9. Who wrote ‘Madame Bovary’?  

(a) Leo Tolstoy 

(b) James Joyce  

(c) E.M. Forster 

(d) Gustave Flaubert  


10. The poem ‘Isle of Innisfree’ is written by  

(a) Dylan Thomas 

(b) W.H Auden  

(c) Ezra Pound 

(d) W.B. Yeats  


 11. Othello is a Shakespeare’s play about - 

(a) A Jew 

(b) A Turk 

(c) A Roman

(d) A Moor 


12. The play Arms and the Man is by - 

(a) James Joyce 

(b) Arthur Miller 

(c) Samuel Beckett 

(d) George Bernard Shaw 


13. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is written by - 

(a) Rudyard Kipling 

(b) Ronald Reuel Tolkien 

(c) Hobbit 

(d) None 


14. ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ is an essay by - 

(a) Thomas Hardy 

(b) T.S. Eliot 

(c) Virginia Woolf 

(d) Thomas Carlyle 


15. Who of the following is a playwright? 

(a) Dickens 

(b) Frost 

(c) W.B. Yeats 

(d) G.B. Shaw

 The monster Grendel appears in which one of the following poems? 

(A) Beowulf 

(B) Historia Regum Britanniae 

(C) Roman de Brut 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of the above 


The Owl and the Nightingale had been written primarily for which one of the following classes of the audience? 

(A) English nuns 

(B) Women recluses who had chosen the solitary life 

(C) English queens 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of the above 

Who is the narrator of the poem, Phyllyp Sparowe ? 

(A) Dame of Margery 

(B) William Thynne 

(C) Earl of Surrey 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of the above 


Which one of the following works speaks of a government controlled by a self-perpetuating oligarchy? 

(A) The History of King Richard III 

(B) In Praise of Folly 

(C) Utopia 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of thea above 


Which one of the following poems had been written as an allegorical lament on the death of the first wife of John of Gaunt? 

(A) The Book of the Duchess 

(B) The Legend of Good Women 

(C) Troilus and Criseyde 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of the above 



“Come, let me write. “And to what end?” To ease A burthened heart. “How can words ease, which are The glasses of thy daily vexing care?” 

The above verse has been in which one of the following poems? 

(A) Astrophil and Stella 

(B) Arcadia 

(C) A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 

(D) More than one of the above 

(E) None of the above


The Scriblerus Club was an informal group of authors founded in 1714 by J. Swift and A. Pope. Who among the following was not a member of this group

A. John Gay, 

B. St. John 

C. Joseph Addison 

D. T. Parnell

Ans. C