500+ Literary Criticism MCQs – Part 8: New Criticism, Indian Poetics & Key Terms

1. ………………… is the literal meaning of the word we use in general communication like sharing factual information.

1. Sense
2. Feelings
3. Tone
4. Intention

2. Richards appreciated Eliot’s The Waste Land for its:

1. Aesthetic quality
2. Lack of fixed beliefs
3. Psychological impact
4. Powerful imagery

3. I. A. Richards pioneered the technique called:

1. Practical criticism
2. Descriptive analysis
3. Historical criticism
4. Interpretive evaluation

4. I. A. Richards’ experiment with his Cambridge students, recorded in Practical Criticism (1929), astonished him because of:

1. The very astute remarks of his students
2. The complete success of his experiment
3. The lack of poems worthy of classroom study
4. The poor quality of his students’ stock responses

5. Who among the following is regarded as a pioneer (forerunner) of New Criticism?

1. F. R. Leavis
2. I. A. Richards
3. Northrop Frye
4. Raymond Williams

6. Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) was written by:

1. T. S. Eliot
2. F. R. Leavis
3. I. A. Richards
4. R. P. Blackmur

7. I. A. Richards developed his theory of criticism by evaluating poetry through which method?

1. Multiple-choice questionnaires
2. Close reading
3. Group discussion
4. Biographical research

8. The term ‘Tension’ is associated with:

1. J.C. Ransom
2. W. Empson
3. C. Brooks
4. A. Tate

9. The essay “Wanted: An Ontological Critic” was written by:

1. John Crowe Ransom
2. Yvor Winters
3. Joel Spingarn
4. I. A. Richards

10. The founder of the journal Kenyon Review was:

1. John Crowe Ransom
2. Yvor Winters
3. Joel Spingarn
4. I. A. Richards

11. The magazine founded by John Crowe Ransom was:

1. The Fugitive
2. Scrutiny
3. Criterion
4. Kenyon Review

12. The line “A poem should not mean / But be” comes from:

1. Cleanth Brooks’s The Well Wrought Urn
2. William Empson’s Seven Types of Ambiguity
3. W. K. Wimsatt’s The Verbal Icon
4. Archibald MacLeish’s “Ars Poetica”

13. Which book gave its name to the movement called New Criticism?

1. I. A. Richards’ Principles of Literary Criticism
2. John Crowe Ransom’s The New Criticism
3. T. S. Eliot’s The Sacred Wood
4. F. R. Leavis’s The Great Tradition

14. New Criticism considers text as a:

1. Cultural construct
2. Historical construct
3. Linguistic construct
4. Autotelic

15. ‘Formal Criticism’ relates to the structure of:

1. Literary devices
2. Myths
3. Content
4. Form

16. In the formalistic school of criticism, art is:

1. Entertainment
2. Preaching
3. Matter
4. Style

17. Among the following, identify the correct statement about New Criticism:

1. New criticism considers text as a cultural construct
2. New criticism considers text as a product of history
3. New criticism considers text as a repository of authorial intentions
4. New criticism considers text as an autonomous, ontological and organic whole

18. ………………… is an important concept developed by Formalists.

1. Literariness
2. Imitation
3. Touchstone method
4. Psychoanalysis

19. The term “New Criticism” is applied to:

1. Anglo-American criticism
2. Indian-English criticism
3. Anglo-African criticism
4. Continental criticism

20. A deliberate poetic device in which a single word or expression signifies two or more distinct references, or expresses diverse attitudes or feelings, is called:

1. Portmanteau
2. Ambiguity
3. Paradox
4. Pun

21. ………………… in Sanskrit means embellishment, whereas the root alam denotes perfection.

1. Alamkara
2. Rasa
3. Vyanjana
4. Vakrokti

22. ………………… is generally regarded as the cornerstone of Indian Aesthetics.

1. Alamkara
2. Rasa
3. Vibhava
4. Anubhava

23. According to whom is Rasa evoked when the Vibhavas, Anubhavas, and Vyabhicaribhavas are combined?

1. Abhinavagupta
2. Mamatta
3. Bharata
4. Anandavardhana

24. Who is generally regarded as the “Father of the Alamkara school of Sanskrit poetics”?

1. Abhinavagupta
2. Vishvanatha
3. Mammata
4. Bhamaha

25. According to Indian poetics, the different Rasas are created by:

1. Natyas
2. Ragas
3. Shrutis
4. Bhavas

26. The grammarians’ theory of Sphota was adopted to explain poetics by:

1. Dandin
2. Anandavardhana
3. Panini
4. Vamana

27. Dhvanyaloka is a critical treatise by:

1. Kuntaka
2. Anandavardhana
3. Bhamaha
4. Patanjali

28. The theory of Sphota was systematically formulated by:

1. Bhartrhari
2. Patanjali
3. Panini
4. Bhamaha

29. Match the Sanskrit Rasa with its closest English equivalent:

Choose the correct code:

1. I-d, II-a, III-b, IV-c
2. I-c, II-a, III-b, IV-d
3. I-b, II-d, III-c, IV-a
4. I-c, II-a, III-d, IV-b

30. Match the theory with its theorist:

Choose the correct code:

1. I-d, II-a, III-b, IV-c
2. I-c, II-a, III-b, IV-d
3. I-c, II-d, III-a, IV-b
4. I-c, II-a, III-d, IV-b

31. In Bhartrhari’s view, the word or sentence taken as a single, indivisible meaningful unit is called:

1. Vak
2. Vachana
3. Slesha
4. Sphota

32. The deviations of expression that make an utterance poetic are studied in the theory of:

1. Alamkara
2. Vakrokti
3. Riti
4. Anumana

33. The Advancement of Learning attempted to distinguish between theological Truth and ‘scientific’ Truth based on reason. It was written by:

1. Treatise on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Piety (Hooker)
2. Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England (Owst)
3. The Advancement of Learning (Bacon)
4. The New Atlantis (Bacon)

34. In The Advancement of Learning Bacon noted the need for more studies of:

The correct combination according to the code is:

1. I and III
2. I and IV
3. II and III
4. II and IV

35. In the Advancement of Learning, Bacon analysed the principal obstacles to the advancement of learning. Identify the one he did NOT mention as an obstacle:

1. Rhetoric
2. Medieval scholasticism
3. Inductive method
4. Pseudo sciences

36. “All Rising to Great Place is by a _____ staire.” (Francis Bacon)

1. Murky
2. Winding
3. Crooked
4. Sinister

37. Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis is about a utopian state called:

1. Asgard
2. Avalon
3. Bensalem
4. Baltia

38. In Thomas Hobbes’s grand metaphor in Leviathan, a commonwealth is like:

1. A great ship piloted by one man
2. An artificial man imbued with the strength of many men
3. An octopus with competing interests
4. An ostrich thrusting its head in the sand

39. Which of the following books proposes a political theory?

1. Principia
2. Leviathan
3. Anatomy of Melancholy
4. Liberty of Prophesying

40. Which according to Thomas Hobbes is the only ‘science’ God has bestowed on mankind, that informs the structure of Leviathan?

1. Astronomy
2. Architecture
3. Occult sciences
4. Geometry

41. The concept of human mind as tabula rasa or blank tablet was propounded by:

1. Bishop Berkeley
2. David Hume
3. Francis Bacon
4. John Locke

42. Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a classic statement of _________ Philosophy.

1. Aesthetic
2. Empiricist
3. Nationalist
4. Realist

43. Who wrote a book titled The Age of Reason?

1. William Godwin
2. Edmund Burke
3. Thomas Paine
4. Edward Gibbon

44. Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man was published in:

1. 1790
2. 1791
3. 1792
4. 1793

45. New Science is a work associated with:

1. Ernst Cassirer
2. Wilhelm von Humboldt
3. G. Battista Vico
4. Immanuel Kant

46. Philosophy of Symbolic Forms is a work associated with:

1. Wilhelm von Humboldt
2. Ernst Cassirer
3. Immanuel Kant
4. Battista Vico

47. The Uncertainty Principle is attributed to:

1. William James
2. John Dewey
3. Werner Heisenberg
4. Charles Darwin

48. The term “Stream of Consciousness” was taken from the book:

1. The Human Mind
2. The Principles of Psychology
3. The Mind of Man
4. Modes of Human Behaviour

49. The term ‘a stream of consciousness’ is derived from the writing of:

1. May Sinclair
2. Dorothy Richardson
3. William James
4. Gertrude Stein

50. Arrange the following Shakespeare critics in correct chronological order:

1. Spurgeon – T.S. Eliot – Stephen Greenblatt – Bradley
2. Bradley – Spurgeon – T.S. Eliot – Stephen Greenblatt
3. T.S. Eliot – Stephen Greenblatt – Bradley – Spurgeon
4. Stephen Greenblatt – Bradley – T.S. Eliot – Spurgeon

51. Choose the correct chronological sequence:

1. Negative capability, sublime, dissociation of sensibility, heteroglossia
2. Sublime, negative capability, heteroglossia, dissociation of sensibility
3. Sublime, negative capability, dissociation of sensibility, heteroglossia
4. Heteroglossia, dissociation of sensibility, sublime, negative capability

52. Identify the correct matching of critics and their works:

1. Horace–Ars Poetica, Aristotle–Poetics, Quintilian–Institutio Oratoria, Ben Jonson–Discoveries, Sidney–Apology, Dryden–Essay of Dramatic Poesy
2. Horace–Poetics, Aristotle–Ars Poetica, Quintilian–On the Sublime, Longinus–Discoveries
3. Horace–On the Sublime, Aristotle–Poetics, Quintilian–Discoveries, Longinus–Institutio Oratoria
4. Horace–Ars Poetica, Aristotle–Poetics, Quintilian–Institutio Oratoria, Ben Jonson–Apology, Sidney–Essay of Dramatic Poesy

53. Match the following:

Match with: I. Brooks, II. Sidney, III. Wordsworth, IV. Coleridge

1. IV, III, I, II
2. II, IV, III, I
3. III, II, I, IV
4. IV, II, I, III

54. Match the following critics and essays:

Match with: (i) Terry Eagleton, (ii) Richard Ohmann, (iii) Matthew Arnold, (iv) T.S. Eliot

1. (iv), (iii), (i), (ii)
2. (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
3. (iii), (iv), (i), (ii)
4. (ii), (iii), (iv), (i)

55. Which two writers have written essays on the defence of poetry?

1. (a) and (d)
2. (a) and (c)
3. (c) and (d)
4. (a) and (b)

56. Match the critics with their texts:

I. A Defence of Rhyme, II. Timber: or, Discoveries, III. Ars Poetica, IV. Of Dramatic Poesy

1. A–II, B–I, C–IV, D–III
2. A–III, B–IV, C–II, D–I
3. A–III, B–IV, C–I, D–II
4. A–II, B–IV, C–I, D–III

57. Arrange the following in chronological order of publication:

1. D, A, C, B
2. D, A, B, C
3. A, D, C, B
4. A, D, B, C

58. Match List I with List II:

Choose the correct code (a, b, c, d):

1. 3, 2, 1, 4
2. 1, 2, 3, 4
3. 2, 1, 3, 4
4. 3, 4, 2, 1

59. Mimetic criticism views literary work as:

1. Personalisation
2. Depersonalization
3. Imitation
4. Interpretation

60. A philosophical attitude pervading much of modern literature is:

1. Absurdism
2. Dadaism
3. Imagism
4. Surrealism

61. Which of the following statements is correct?

1. Langue is the language system, and Parole, the individual usage.
2. Langue is the language usage, and Parole, the individual system.
3. Langue is the language in abeyance, and Parole, the individual application.
4. Langue is the language collective, and Parole, the individual deviation.

62. What is denouement?

1. The ending/resolution of a tragedy
2. The climax in a tragedy
3. The climax in a comedy
4. The ending of a comedy

63. From where has the term Oedipus Complex originated?

1. Antigone
2. Oedipus the Rex
3. Oedipus at Colonus
4. None

64. What is the main function of literary theory?

1. To understand the importance of the formal elements of literary structure
2. To formulate relationships among an author, a reader, and a literary work
3. To understand the role of sexuality, gender, race and ethnicity in literary study
4. All of the above answers are correct

65. Which best describes the difference between literary criticism and literary theory?

1. Literary criticism is concerned only with the meaning of a literary work, while literary theory is concerned only with the structure
2. Literary criticism draws upon research from outside literature, while literary theory draws upon sources within a text
3. Literary criticism is concerned with how characters in a text act, while literary theory is concerned with why characters act
4. Literary theory is concerned with the method used to interpret a work, while literary criticism is the application of literary theory

66. “Poetic licence” means:

1. Liberty with diction alone
2. Liberty with fictional characters
3. Liberty with historical truth
4. Liberty with diction and the norms of common discourse

67. “Linguistic freedom” in poetry is:

1. Freedom with diction, coined words and syntax
2. Freedom to use only colloquial language
3. Freedom with figurative construction alone
4. Freedom with literal truth

68. What is meant by rhetoric?

1. Using language for musical effect
2. Using language only for exaggeration
3. The art of using language effectively or persuasively
4. Using language purely metaphorically