500+ Literary Criticism MCQs – Part 2: Horace & Longinus

1. The author of Ars Poetica is:

1. Plato
2. Horace
3. Virgil
4. Aristotle

2. What does the phrase ‘ut pictura poesis’ from Horace’s Art of Poetry mean?

1. “As in painting, so in poetry”
2. “Poetry beggars pictorial description”
3. “As in poetry, so in painting”
4. “Picture above all poetry”

3. Who among the following theorists formulated the concept of utile dulci, profit combined with delight?

1. Plato
2. Aristotle
3. Horace
4. Longinus

4. Odes and Epodes was written by:

1. Longinus
2. Horace
3. Aristotle
4. Plato

5. Who called the poet a Vates (prophet/seer)?

1. Greeks
2. Romans
3. Italians
4. Squamards

6. According to Longinus, the sublime has the following features EXCEPT:

1. It is the essence of all great poetry and oratory
2. It is interested in the usual rhetorical goal of persuasion
3. It valorizes a special use of language
4. It is a matter of reader-response

7. What, among the following, is ruled out by Longinus as a way of achieving the sublime?

1. Great thoughts
2. Immoderate emotion
3. Noble diction
4. Dignified and elevated word arrangement

8. Of the five conditions of the Sublime according to Longinus, the most important is:

1. Vigorous treatment of passions
2. Majesty of the structure
3. A lofty cast of mind
4. A wide range of thoughts

9. Which one of the following is the fourth source of sublime as defined by Longinus?

1. Dignity of composition
2. Capacity of strong emotions
3. Grandeur of thought
4. Nobility of diction

10. Who said, “The effect of elevated language upon audience is not persuasion but transport.”?

1. Cacecilius
2. Plotinus
3. Horace
4. Longinus

11. How many principal sources of Sublimity are there according to Longinus?

1. Three sources
2. Four sources
3. Five sources
4. No definite number of sources

12. Longinus says that ‘Great literature springs from great and ___.’

1. Lofty souls
2. Immortal ideas
3. High imagination
4. Nobility of diction

13. ‘On the Sublime’ is a piece of:

1. Dramatic
2. Poetic
3. Prose
4. Conversational

14. In whose opinion has Longinus ‘turned and tempered them with what is Sanest in Classicism’?

1. Atkins
2. Gibbons
3. Scott James
4. Saintsbury

15. Complete Longinus’ declaration that, ‘sublimity is a certain loftiness and excellence in ___.’

1. Poetry
2. Style
3. Language
4. None of these

16. Choose the correct statements about Longinus’ On the Sublime:

1. Longinus believes that in the Odyssey, Homer couldn’t preserve the sustained energy of the Iliad.
2. Throughout the treatise Longinus harshly criticises the prose style of Plato.
3. Longinus regards extreme conciseness as the hallmark of sublimity.
4. According to Longinus, Sappho has exceptional skill in combining striking emotions into a single whole.

1. 1, 3 and 4
2. 2 and 3
3. 2, 3 and 4
4. All the above

17. In whose opinion was Longinus’ “classicism touched with romance”?

1. Abercrombie
2. Scott James
3. Wimsatt
4. Atkins

18. Whom has Longinus advised to imitate in poetry?

1. Rules and regulations
2. Great classical masters
3. Contemporary literature
4. Nature and art

19. The two types of the sublime are:

1. Excellence and grandeur
2. Harmony and rhythm
3. Epic and tragedy
4. True and false

20. In explaining the sublime, Longinus places emphasis on the great spirit of the:

1. Text
2. Art
3. Writer
4. Nature

21. Longinus declares that the true sublime pleases all and pleases:

1. Always
2. Forever
3. Everywhere
4. Instantly

22. What does Longinus mean by ‘Puerility’?

1. Dramatic effect
2. Rhythm
3. Pedantic conceit
4. Hyperbole