introduction to literary studies Mcqs
51. Which of the following offers the best definition of a frame narrative ?
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A. A story within a story

B. A narrative that summarizes the plot of the novel

C. A story that reminds the reader that the story is fictional

D. A narrative that introduces readers to the main characters of a story

52. Jane Austens Northanger Abbey pursues which of the following themes ?
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A. The ways in which appearances dont always match realities

B. The conflict between marriages based on love and those based on money

C. All of these

D. The danger in not recognizing the difference between reality and fiction

53. Ethos is important to establish in which of the following types of arguments ?
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A. Political arguments

B. Emotional arguments

C. Deductive arguments

D. Inductive arguments

54. Which of the following offers the best definition of the concept of narrative poetry ?
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A. A narrative poem has a plot and tells a story.

B. A narrative poem is a poem that does not have a plot or tell a story.

C. A narrative poem is vague and difficult in style.

D. A narrative poem is a poem written in the style of a conversation.

55. What is one reason that Mystery Plays are referred to as such ?
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A. They explore mysterious religious topics.

B. They involve the solving of a crime.

C. They were produced by medieval craft guilds, which were knows as mysteries.

D. They were written by medieval mystics.

56. Which of the following statements best defines the poetic form of the villanelle ?
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A. A poem that carries a pattern on two rhymes and offers an alternating refrain

B. A poem that eulogizes the dead

C. A poem that celebrates the life of a cruel person

D. A poem that has no rhyme scheme

57. Which of the following statements offers the best characterization of a Greek tragedy ?
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A. In a Greek tragedy, the hero suffers but always survives at the end of the play.

B. In a Greek tragedy, evil people are vanquished by the forces of good.

C. In a Greek tragedy, characters undergo reversals of fortune, usually for the worse.

D. In a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero dies at the end of the play.

58. Which of the following statements offers the best definition of an epistolary novel ?
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A. A novel set in the past

B. A novel that consists entirely of dialogue

C. A novel that consists of a series of documents, such as diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles

D. A novel that is set in the countryside of Europe

59. Which of the following offers the best description of literary theory ?
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A. Literary theory involves considering the publication history of literary texts.

B. Literary theory involves measuring the quality of a literary work.

C. Literary theory involves describing the underlying principles of a literary work.

D. Literary theory involves coming to a precise understanding of a writers psychology.

60. According to Dr. Taormina, Victorian novelists generally________________?
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A. wanted to subvert middle class values.

B. had a negative view of human nature.

C. accepted middle class values.

D. wrote in a hyperrealistic fashion.

61. Which of the following statements best represents the main theme of Becketts Waiting for Godot ?
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A. Redemption comes from surrendering to a higher power.

B. Good things, including salvation, come to those who are patient.

C. The world can be fully understood if people listen closely to what others are saying.

D. People are fundamentally unable to realize any sort of inherent meaning in existence.
62. According to Dr. Frances Pritchetts version of Shamsur Rahman Faruqis The Historical Novel and the Historical Narrative, what is the difference between a historical narrative and a historical novel ?
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A. Faruqi actually argues that historical novels do not exist.

B. A historical narrative tells only part of the story surrounding a historical event; a historical novel tells the whole story.

C. A historical novel focuses on providing the reader with only the central truth of a historical event, while a historical narrative attempts to tell the entire truth of a historical event.

D. A historical narrative and a historical novel are the same thing.

63. In Characters of Shakespeares Plays, how does William Hazlitt ultimately conceptualize the character of Hamlet ?
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A. As a brilliant warrior

B. As a crazed fool

C. As a profound philosophical genius

D. As boyish and immature

64. Which of the following offers the best description of the concept of ethos ?
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A. Ethos refers to a writers ability to inspire action in readers.

B. Ethos refers to a writers ability to inspire emotional responses in readers.

C. Ethos refers to a writers ability to present evidence.

D. Ethos refers to a writers presentation of character and image.
65. What does Percy Shelley mean when he refers to poets as being the unacknowledged legislators of the world ?
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A. He is suggesting that artists serve to develop culture.

B. He is suggesting that the making of laws is itself an art.

C. He is suggesting that artists are repressed throughout society.

D. He is suggesting that all artists are from high social classes.

66. Dr. Allen Shoafs essay, Hamlet: Like Mother, Like Son, argues which of the following points ?
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A. Hamlets fathers ghost is not really a ghost.

B. Hamlet feels a sense of desire for both his mother and his father.

C. Hamlet is truly insane in the play.

D. Hamlet is an impossible play to truly understand.

67. In Becketts Waiting for Godot, which of the following statements best describes the plays setting ?
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A. Ancient and sophisticated

B. Stark and sterile

C. Futuristic and technologically advanced

D. Flowery and ornate

68. In her text, History of the Novel, How does Dr. Agatha Taormina define the novel ?
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A. A narrative that conveys the illusion of reality

B. A narrative that emphasizes character development

C. All of these

D. A narrative with a unified, plausible plot structure

69. According to Anthony DiMatteos Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty: Reason of State in Hamlet, how does Shakespeare tend to present political rulers in Hamlet?
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A. Shakespeare presents political rulers as often meeting ruinous and violent endings.

B. Shakespeare presents political rulers as flawless, perfect human beings.

C. Shakespeare considers all political rulers to be corrupt.

D. Shakespeare only presents fictional political rulers and does not explore any political realities.

70. Which of the following best describes epic theater as defined by Berthold Brecht ?
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A. Epic theater is plot-driven theater.

B. Epic theater turns the passive spectator into an active observer.

C. Epic theater privileges feeling over reason.

D. Epic theater maintains the illusion of realism.

71. Which of the following lines provides an example of a poetic apostrophe ?
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A. Death, that which feels nothing.

B. She is a woman of beauty and wonder.

C. Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee.

D. I wandered lonely as a cloud.

72. Which of the following may be an antagonist to the protagonist of a novel ?
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A. The protagonist

B. All of these

C. Society

D. Another character

73. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea behind Anthony DiMatteos essay, Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty: Reason of State in Hamlet ?
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A. Hamlet is a tragedy that focuses on the Elizabethan eras loss of faith in humanitys ability to govern itself without violence.

B. Hamlet is a tragedy that reflects upon enlightened and progressive political systems that developed during Shakespeares time.

C. Hamlet is a tragedy focusing on the plight of the early-modern self.

D. Hamlet is a tragedy that reflects Shakespeares own political circumstances.

74. Which of the following statements about the plot of Shakespeares Hamlet is not true ?
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A. Hamlet is deeply disturbed by his fathers death.

B. Ophelia dies by drowning.

C. Hamlet doubts the proper course of action to take.

D. It is never proven within the play that Claudius murdered King Hamlet.
75. As a mode of literary criticism or theory, gender theory attempts to bring which of the following to literary texts ?
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A. An understanding of the various conceptions and understandings of gender that have carried throughout various cultures

B. An understanding of how standard histories of western societies are presented in terms of heterosexual identity

C. An understanding of gender as a human construct

D. All of these.
76. Psychoanalytic criticism during its earliest stages tended to focus on_____________?
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A. the typographical structures of literary texts.

B. the psychologies of individual authors.

C. how children relate to their parents in terms of literary texts.

D. translation issues.

77. In his introductory lecture, how does Paul Fry define literary theory ?
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A. A hypothesis about how literary texts can be understood

B. A methodology for applying ideas to literary texts

C. A trend in university English departments

D. The practice of interpreting literary texts

78. Which of the following statements offers the best definition of the term Bildungsroman ?
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A. A story of one persons fall from grace and into destruction

B. A story of one persons selfrealization and attempt to return to innocence

C. A story of one persons growth and development within a particular social order

D. A story of one persons success within a capitalistic economic system

79. Which of the following statements would Percy Shelley, author of A Defense of Poetry, agree with ?
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A. Artists are dangerous to social order.

B. Artists serve to construct the foundations of culture.

C. Arts supreme function is to entertain the public.

D. Art serves a particular worldly purpose.

80. Which of the following statements best represents Lacans view of Ophelia in his essay, Desire and the Interpretation of Desire in Hamlet ?
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A. Hamlet desires Ophelia, but only when she is unattainable.

B. Hamlet desires attaining the throne of Denmark, of which Ophelia is a symbol.

C. Hamlet desires his mother, not Ophelia.

D. Hamlet desires revenge, not Ophelia.

81. What is the difference between traditional literary criticism and post-New Criticism literary theory ?
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A. Traditional literary criticism focused on tracking influences and textual allusions and considering the historical contexts of literary texts.

B. Traditional literary criticism attempted to consider the psychological aspects of literary texts.

C. Traditional literary criticism is mainly focused on exploring gender issues.

D. Traditional literary criticism only examines pre-20th-century literary texts.

82. Which of the following statements about Greek tragedies is true ?
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A. They were almost never set in the past.

B. They were usually set in the past.

C. They were often done in honor of the Greek god Zeus.

D. They were not popular with ancient Greek audiences.

83. According to Dr. Frances Pritchetts version of Shamsur Rahman Faruqis The Historical Novel and the Historical Narrative, which of the following offers the best definition of a history ?
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A. A narrative based entirely on verifiable facts

B. A narrative without characters

C. A narrative that takes place in the past.

D. A narrative that does not analyze characters on a situation-by-situation basis
84. In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth calls for poetry to be written in what kind of language?
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A. Ancient languages

B. Typically poetic and fanciful language

C. Common, everyday language

D. Complicated and difficult language

85. Aristotle felt that ethos was established by a speaker or writer by convincing the audience that ?
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A. the author or speaker maintained the appropriate critical distance from the topic.

B. the author or speaker has provided proper logic and evidence in support of his topic.

C. the author or speaker was emotionally involved in the topic at hand.

D. the author or speaker was of good mind and character.
86. As a mode of literary criticism or theory, formalism attempted to bring which of the following to literary studies ?
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A. An awareness of the historical circumstances surrounding a texts production

B. A set of objective criteria for critical analysis

C. An awareness of the economic circumstances surrounding a literary text

D. Strict criteria for evaluating the quality of a literary text

87. In his essay, Characters of Shakespeares Plays, William Hazlitt conceptualizes Hamlet as_______________?
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A. a man of tremendous humor, simplicity, and innate goodness and kindness.

B. a wicked and manipulative man.

C. a disturbed and insane man.

D. a depressed but ultimately good and nonviolent man.
88. Lauren Beth Signores essay, Anne of Green Gables: The Transformation from Bildungsroman to Romantic Comedy, argues that Anne of Green Gables is ultimately what kind of character ?
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A. A cynic awaiting the worlds destruction

B. A romantic awaiting true love

C. A young girl with a particularly dark Mindset

D. A delusional girl with no grasp on reality

89. What does a prologue serve to do in a Greek tragedy or comedy ?
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A. Introduce the main characters

B. Remind the viewers of what kind of play they are viewing

C. Provide insight into the plays mythological background

D. Preview the plays conclusion

90. In Shakespeares Sonnet 18, the poet does which of the following ?
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A. Compares his love to his fear of death

B. Compares his love to a turbulent sea

C. Compares his love to a summers day

D. Compares his love to a winter storm

91. A writer can establish ethos in a piece of writing by doing which of the following ?
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A. Appealing to the readers emotions

B. Using logic and reason

C. Demonstrating a mastery of the topic

D. Using informal language

92. Which of the following statements offers the best definition of a tragic hero ?
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A. A noble person who makes a costly mistake

B. A cowardly person who shows some personal strength when faced with a crisis

C. A cowardly person who doubts himself or herself despite possessing great wealth and political power

D. A noble person who becomes completely corrupted

93. Which of the following offers the best definition of the literary term motif ?
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A. A recurring element in a story that is symbolically significant

B. A characters fatal flaw

C. A characters moment of selfrealization in a narrative

D. A rhyme scheme

94. The Freudian concept of the uncanny refers to_________________?
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A. terror at the thought of death.

B. a realization of ones empowered position in the world.

C. a sense of something being familiar and foreign at once.

D. a feeling of being disconnected from the world.

95. Which of the following serves as the best definition of the literary critical practice of formalism ?
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A. Formalism focuses on examining the historical contexts and backgrounds of literary texts.

B. Formalism focuses on examining the structural dynamics of poems.

C. Formalism focuses on examining how a text exemplifies its writers psychology.

D. Formalism focuses on examining the use of literary devices within a literary text.
96. Sophocles Oedipus the King explores which of the following themes ?
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A. The corruptive force of technology

B. The power of religious faith

C. Fate and free will

D. Disobedient children

97. In his essay, The Significance of Fictionalizing, Wolfgang Iser argues which of the following points ?
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A. Historically, writers have been considered liars or at the very least irrelevant.

B. Every text includes traces from the outside world, including social, historical, and literary remnants.

C. Fictionalizing reality is a basic human need.

D. All of these.
98. In his Poetics, Aristotle suggests that tragic literary works should be ?
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A. without any sort of moral insight.

B. logical in terms of plot and structure.

C. sad.

D. complex in terms of plot and structure.

99. What is the relationship between the practices of New Historicism and New Criticism ?
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A. New Historicism was a reaction against New Criticism, which was seen as too narrowly focused on text rather than context.

B. Both fields of literary study are American in origin.

C. New Historicism is simply an early form of Cultural Materialism.

D. Both fields of study are strictly focused on how readers interpret and invent meanings for literary texts.